Never Ending Circle
by I Need A Creative Penname
Summary: On hiatus until summer at the latest Evy’s engagement ring is actually part of an ancient myth. After figuring this out, she and the crew head out in a puzzle like search to find where it leads.
1. Chapter One

Okay, okay, I thought I better do this because I've had the idea floating around in my head and I knew it wasn't going to go away until I actually wrote this down. Sigh. I'll just ignore the fact that I have no free time between work and school and should, in fact, be doing homework at this very moment. This is just so much more fun. 

Summery: Evy's engagement ring has something unique and valuable to it; something the O'Connell's know nothing about until its "to late."  Wa hahahahaha. 

FYI: couple of fluff chapters before we get to the actual action/plotline, so stay with me through all the mushy-ness and what not.

For the sake of argument: Evy's name is spelled like that and I figure there was suppose to be about nine or ten years between the first Mummy and the second. Who knows, maybe Stephan just wasn't in a math mood with he did TMR…

_Speaking of which, all characters and related things are his except for the ones that come from my twisted mind. Hehe. _

_The myth that appears later is total BS (as far as I know) and was something I just randomly came up with while bored in Physics the other day. _

_Oh, one more thing. I've found I write better in first person, and since I can't decide who I would rather be for the entire story, I thought I might try the switchy thing on this one. Ya know, Rick one chapter, Evy the next… so on and so on. _

_All right. I think that's it. _

_On with the bloody show already!_

_Okay okay._

_Review :)_

_*******_

Never Ending Circle 

Chapter One 

_Late July, 1926_

You would think the whole walking mummy thing would have turned my dear wife off of Egypt for the rest of her life. But before we were even married, before we were back to Cairo even, she started blabbing about how much more she wanted to explore the field (as if she hadn't explored every inch already…but I didn't mention this) and how "extremely fascinated" she was with Egyptian curses now. I had to stop her at that one; we were not, under any circumstances, going to go head on into something that was rumored to be cursed. Evy had just smiled, kissed me, and then I forgot what I told her. 

Typical. 

Once back in Cairo, we settled down for a bit, sold off some of the antiques that my good friend Beni had so generously stolen, and kept the rest. Evy had become attached to some and wanted to wait until later to sell others, claiming that if we brought them to the museum's attention all at once, they would start to ask some rather intrusive questions. Jonathan had been allowed to take part in 33% of the profit (the other 64 going to Evy and myself…) but was only allowed to keep one of the artifacts. He chose this really awful gaudy scepter thing that made the silly gold bracelet's Evy had kept look like nothing. Evy had then horded everything else away and had it shipped to England in tightly guarded boxes. 

After about a week I proposed to the girl, using a ring we had found in the Hamunaptra cache- which made her cry- and a couple of days later we were married in a small (just us and John) service at the church. We'd had to pay the minister a hefty sum to let us do it on such short notice, but he was more then welcome once we flashed those bills in his face. I was still amazed at how much power I suddenly had, being suddenly rich. With all that profit combined with the small fortune Evy still had from her parents passing, we were extremely well off. 

Some might say that the wedding had happened rather quickly, but I'll tell them this: it was Evy's idea. I swear to God. The moment I proposed she was talking a mile a minute about the wedding and finally, when she started talking about having a bunch of people, I suggested the sort of elopement. She liked this, something to do with it being "wildly romantic" and bada boom there we were. It was strange; I never thought I would get married. But after the first morning of waking up with my wife asleep on my chest, I knew I was going to love it. She and I were bound to each other for the rest of our lives; it was nice to have that. I'd never had security in my entire life. 

And God I loved her. Everything she did made me stop and stare, or stop and just listen. It didn't matter what she was talking about or showing me, I was damn interested. And what's worse was that I liked that feeling; I wanted to feel like it for the rest of my life. God I hoped I did. 

No one had ever told me, though, just how much "nice girls" can change after they are married. Seriously, you wouldn't have thought it by looking at her, but Evy had the dirtiest, most sinful mind I'd ever known. It was damn sexy. And the girl knew how to kiss; she knew how to push my buttons like no one else! One little peck on the cheek and I was helpless. 

Being married for two nights had taught me two new things however. One, don't let your new brother-in-law sleep in the next room when he has absolutely no shame what so ever. And two, it's a good thing not to start things up when you're suppose to meet said brother- in-law in twenty minutes for breakfast. In my defense, Evy was the one who'd planned the damn breakfast at eight in the morning. Sometimes I wondered about her.

In fact, it was her fault we were late that morning. We were supposed to meet Jonathan at nine and then go down at the department of Antiquates. Only a few of the employees down there were aware of what happened at Hamunaptra (they were part of Ardeth's little group) and wanted to talk to us about it around ten. However me being me and Evy being Evy, we had forgotten to set an alarm (we were ah, preoccupied by other more interesting things the night before) and when we were awoken by a loud banging on the door, Evy had managed to distract me once again. Geez.

When Evy finally got there, Jonathan had come barging in complain about how we were going to be late and so on and so forth. We realized our mistake, shooed John out and then in record time managed to get dressed and ready to go. By a quarter to ten we were out the door, running toward the Museum.

We got there in the nick of time. I expected that we were be ushered in, congratulated, possibly given some sort of reward. But, some receptionist lady just shoved us into this conference room thing where we now were. It was dark and musty smelling; I wanted to get out of there. Sighing, I checked the big clock on the wall for what must have been the millionth time. It was already ten thirty. 

"Where the blazes are they?" Jonathan demanded, asking what we were all thinking. He raised his eyebrows at Evy who brushed him off at with a swift dismissing wave.

"Jonathan, they told me ten," she assured him. "They probably got held up with something."

"Let's hope its not the walking dead again," I muttered under my breath, or at least what I thought was under my breath. Evelyn turned in her seat and gave me a weak smile, acknowledging that she heard me. I grinned back and then reached over, playfully pulling the brim of her white hat over her eyes. 

"Rick!" she exclaimed, reaching up and pulling the thing off her head. "Honestly." She sighed, smoothed out her hair, and then daintily put the hat back on. The way she was sitting, all proper and straight backed, with her respectable matching skirt and blouse, combined with the hat, reminded me of when we met. Had that only been a few weeks ago? 

I gave her a sheepish smile and then took her hand. We gazed at each other for a minute, until we were interrupted by a loud crash. One hand immediately reached for a gun that I soon realized I didn't have, and the other dropped Evy's. I looked around expectantly, finding only Jonathan sprawled out on the floor. His chair had toppled over, hitting a small end table as it did so, brining both of them down on top of him. Papers were flying everywhere and John was ranting, his arms flailing around. 

"What in the hell are you doing?" I demanded roughly, jumping up and pulling the table and chair off of him. Evy, as well, had gotten out of her chair and came over to where we were. She started running around, picking up the stray papers and then set them on the conference table. 

When he was free, Jonathan stood up and brushed off his suit. "Mr. What's-his-arse keeps cigarettes in that table and I was leaning back to get some when I just toppled over."

I loud sigh came from Evy and I turned around to see her standing there with her hands on her hips looking angry. "Jonathan, you're going to get yourself hurt. Or worse, what would have happened if they had walked in just this minute?" Her eyes narrowed as she waited for his reply and I almost laughed as I turned to John again. 

"Well, it would be about bloody time," Jonathan grumbled, fixing his chair up to the table again and then huffing down in it. 

Evelyn made that all-purpose "Ohh" comment she had and then sat down where she had been, folding her arms over her chest and scowling. I patted her gently on the back, fixed the table, set the papers on it, and then sat down again. I made a mental note to myself: don't make Evy mad when she's anxious about something. 

We waited another few minutes before they finally came in. There were two of them, a short Arab man who introduced himself as Abdullah something-a-rather (I couldn't remember) and then a British guy named Robert Logan. I wondered what the second was doing there, because he didn't look like he belonged to a clan of secret Med-jai.

Evy snorted when they called her Mrs. O'Connell and I kicked her softly under the table. She immediately got a hold of herself and then shook each of the men's outstretched hands. Jonathan came next and, to my surprise, he didn't knock anything over as he got stood up to greet them. 

Once everyone was seated and situated, that Abdullah guy cleared his throat a few times and then started talking in halted English. 

"My friends," he began and across my mind I wondered if all Med-jai talked like that. "I don't think I need to tell you again how thankful we are for your help. You did cause the problem, this is true, but to got it under control in a relativity harmless period of time and were able to stop it."

"Don't mention it," Jonathan broke in. I scowled at the back of his head and I noticed Evy discreetly kick him, her face remaining prim the whole time. 

Abdullah pretty much ignored him and continued his little speech. "The man sitting next to me, Mr. Logan, knew about the possibility and was involved with finding out things about Hamunaptra before you were even there. He too wishes to thank you."

Ahh, so that's why he wasn't running around in pansy looking dresses and didn't have tattoos. But how did he know about it? And why? I didn't have much time to think about it because suddenly they were talking to us again.

"In appreciation, Mr. and Mrs. O'Connell, we are going to give you a trust fund here in Cairo," Mr. Logan said in his thick accent. "This can be used to fund whatever future digs you may go on." 

Evy's face lit up and her eyes got really, really big. I could see the smile she was wearing from my position at her side. "You- you're serious?" she asked, sounding very much like when she asked me if I'd actually been to Hamunaptra. 

Abdullah nodded. "Yes, Mrs. O'Connell, so long as you promise not to raise the dead again." He started laughing, followed by Evy, Mr. Logan and then eventually Jonathan. I think he was wondering where his share of all this was. 

I would have laughed too expect for I couldn't promise Evy wouldn't accidentally do this again. So, I just smiled polity and broke the little party up by thanking the two men. They told me not to mention it and then turned their attention to Jonathan. They, wisely, provided him with a limited (might I add, _very_ limited) amount to fund digs. I could tell his was disappointed, but I knew it was a smart choice. Jonathan would probably blow it all on booze and woman anyway; I think they knew that.

Then they turned and both looked at my wife again, who was still grinning like an idiot. "Mrs. O'Connell, we've gotten word from the Bembridge scholars…"

Uh oh. 

"…and they've agreed to let you have a position in the British Museum starting at the beginning of next year. You will be presiding over the Egyptian department with another man, Mr. Galen. You'll be in charge of rotating exhibits, making sure everything is restored properly, that sort of thing. Until then, we're going to make you curator of the department here until we hire someone else who will take over when you leave."

Evelyn then did something she hardly ever does: burst into tears. Jonathan whipped around and gave her a big hug and I moved closer, kissing her on her cheek. She had wanted this for so long, I knew. Ever since the moment I met her it was Bembridge Scholars this, and Bembridge scholars that.  She'd told me about how they'd rejected her over and over. But now, she was part of their crowd.  Pretty exciting, if you ask me.

When she finally calmed down, she jumped up and gave each of the men a hug, thanking them over and over. Then she ran over to me, squealed uncharacteristically and threw her arms around my next. I stood up and kissed her briefly before directing her to her seat again. I flopped back down on my own and listened to Evy for another ten minutes as she went on and on about how grateful she was. 

I could only think of one thing however: we were going to have to live in Cairo for another six months or so. Which meant finding an apartment, more hot weather, and a lot more Egyptian stuff. And Jonathan around. All the time. The entire god damn time. 

I sighed inwardly. It was going to be a very long six months. 


	2. Chapter Two

_Hahaha…more fluff. I had too much down time at work today and this is what I came up with. *evil grin* _

_Next chapter we'll start getting into the plotline, I promise. I've already got half of it finished._

_Bit nervous about getting into Evy's head since I am not British and haven't been married and so on and so forth. But I tried. Anyway, keep those reviews coming!  Any comments are appreciated. _

**Chapter Two**

For weeks I was on what could only be described as a natural high. I couldn't believe that I was now a true Bembridge scholar, that _they_ had contacted _me_, that I was going to be working at the British Museum at _their_ request. That fact combined with the trust fund made my head spin. I had to be the happiest woman in the world; married to a wonderful, handsome man, had a great job and basically a free pass to the Ancient Egyptian world.

It took us only a few days after the meeting to find an adequate apartment. I wanted one close to work, but still in a safe, well, safer part of town and Rick just wanted one with locks, and plenty of them at that. We finally agreed on a two bedroom, quaint little place a couple of blocks away from the Museum. I thought it was perfect and Rick was just happy to get away from Jonathan, who had, in fact, decided to go back to England for a couple of months anyway. I was almost happy to see him go, even though sometimes I missed having him around. 

Rick was much more fun however. After furnishing our little apartment, we had a great many laughs settling in as a real married couple. When I wasn't at work, or when we weren't preoccupied by other things, I was usually in the second bedroom, which we had made into a makeshift study. He would come in every once in a while, make me take a break, and then we would take a walk, or do something much more exciting. 

I was in the study now, pouring over a book on Egyptian magic. For no reason other then I has an insatiable curiously about such things, I wanted to see if there was any misinformation written about the Hom-Dai. Making note of it, I would surely be able to make a case to prove them false if a new book was ever published.

It was a pleasant Saturday in late October, and my day off. Rick had roasted me for a good deal of time that morning, something about me wanting to "work." Humph. I didn't look at it as work. More like expanding my knowledge. He could do well to open a book once and while as far as I was concerned. 

The clock on my desk struck twelve and I was suddenly brought into reality. I _had_ been working for hours; perhaps it was time for a break. Throwing my pencil down, I stretched my arms overhead and yawned. 

"Evy!" Rick's loud voice unexpectedly came from the kitchen. 

I sighed and brought my arms down. "Yes?" I called back calmly, but rather irritated. I hated it when he shouted like that; the whole neighborhood could most likely hear. 

"You want a grill cheese?"

A what? "What?" I pushed my chair aside and stood up, walking over to the door and pulling it open. Rick was standing in the middle of the kitchen holding a frying pan and a loaf of bread. "A what?" I repeated. 

He broke into a grin. "You've never had a grilled cheese sandwich?" 

I shook my head. "No. What is it, some silly American thing?"

Rick shrugged, turning away from me and walking over to where the stove was. He messed about a bit, finally turned it on, and then started moving around, plucking various things from around the kitchen. Now I was even more curious. 

"You're not going to tell me?" I wined, walking over to where he was and standing directly behind him so that when he turned he would have to come face to face with me. 

"Not if you call me a silly American," he grunted, not bothering to look at me.

Silly man, we both knew he didn't care a bit about that. "I did not either!" I exclaimed, punching him in the back. 

In one swift motion, Rick spun around, grabbed me by both wrists and then held them up over my head. I looked at him in shock, my eyes widening. "That was the weakest punch I've ever felt," he said in disgust. Then to my surprise, he broke into a wide smile and kissed me on the cheek. "Didn't I teach you anything?" 

My eyes narrowed. "Not in that department," I leered, slyly moving my body closer to his. If I couldn't use my hands, there were other ways of torturing him until he released me. Slowly, I pressed my hips against his and snuggled my chest against his own. I felt Rick's grip on my hands loosen a bit, but he was still holding them determinedly. Hmmm. Softly, I kissed the small area of his chest that was exposed due to a few buttons on his shirt being undone. When I looked back up, he was staring at me, his longing eyes piercing through my own. His breathing was becoming labored as he leaned closer to me, eventually touching our foreheads together. 

"You hungry," he groaned, his voice hardly above a whisper. 

"For what," was my insinuating reply. 

My hands were immediately released from their captor and without so much as a pause, he had gathered me up in his arms. So much for the grilled whatever he was talking about. I barely had time to remind him to turn off the stove before he carted me away to the bedroom. It's a wonder he didn't drop me on top of the hot appliance. That would have been one sorry burn. 

Not much got done that afternoon. I gave up my assiduous task of finding faults in the Hom-Dai myth in favor of something much better- making love to my husband. There was nothing superior in the world, as far as I was concerned. Whatever way it was, whether urgent and brash, or slow and tender, two things were certain: it was always ardent and both he and I were always ready and willing. 

Now he was asleep, his arms tenderly wrapped around me, holding me safe from the entire world. Gently, I brushed some stray strands of hair from his eyes as I stared at him. He made a sound, but didn't wake up. I really wished he would; I missed him.

It felt like I had known this man for my entire life, when it truth it had been only a few months. A year ago, I would have criticized someone like myself; getting married after only knowing the person for a few weeks, not inhibited about affections towards their husband, completely impetuous and careless. But right now, I didn't care what I would have told me. I was happy with how things had turned out. 

Although, we _did_ have a lot of work cut out for us, making a marriage work for years to come. We drove each other crazy so often, and sometimes, I wondered how I'd fallen in love with him in the first place. Like when he threatens innocent people for no reason, or contemptuously yells at the waiter when we're out to dinner. Or when he walks around in nothing but those silly boxer shorts, or when he presumptuously placed his hands on my person in public. (Both of which I scarcely minded, but they just reminded me of how different we really were.) Ohh, or when he swore for no reason. Honestly, the man had no shame what so ever.

Rick mumbled something in his sleep, reminding me that he was here. I kissed his nose and he fell silent again, making me smile. I was once again reminded of _why_ I was in love with him. He had not only saved me from certain death, he was dangerously handsome, refined- sometimes, sweet (again, sometimes), funny, nice when he wanted to be, a wonderful kisser, his smile was winning, he was marvelously tall, ooohhh…now we were back to handsome….mmmm.

I closed my eyes and savored the feeling of his arms around me. Ohh, he was amazingly strong as well. I felt so secure in his arms, like the rest of the world didn't matter. I sighed to myself. He and I were stuck together for life, whether we drove each other to insanity or not. And I had the rings to prove it. 

This thought made me remember my engagement ring and I opened my eyes to peer at it. It must have been the millionth time I'd studied the thing. It was gold, naturally, with three good-sized turquoise stones on the front, which were, in fact, divided by small gold beads. Around the band were some interesting pictures that made no sense and around the inside of the band were some hieroglyphics of the same nature. 

The ring was certainly very valuable, having come from Hamunaptra and laden with turquoise and gold. If only I could figure out what the symbols meant. I stared at it now, racking my brain. The pictures were odd; there was one on either side of the outlying turquoise stones; a man and one woman, their arms outstretched as if holding the precious elements. And the hieroglyphics were unsettling as well. As far as I could tell, they were just a bunch of insignificant ramblings, being loosely translated as: _at the time the sun disappears._ It was almost like I was missing another piece of the story, from the sound of it. 

Without meaning to, I sighed heavily, thus waking my sleeping husband. He made a sound and then his eyes blinked open just as I met them with my own. 

"What's wrong?" he asked immediately, his voice groggily from sleep, but his eyes alert. 

I attempted a smile. "Nothing," I assured him.

He gave me a look like he didn't believe a word I was saying, but he chose not to press the subject. I gave him a kiss on the nose and then slid away from the warmth of his body. Rick made a whimpering sound as I climbed off the bed and started gathering my clothes from their various locations around the room. 

"Do you want to go out for dinner?" I asked, stepping into my knickers and shimmying them up. A few months ago I would have been embarrassed to do so in front of him, now I didn't even care. I rather liked the fact that his eyes never left my body as I continued my reverse strip tease. 

"Whatever you want," Rick replied languidly, not even bothering to move.  

"Well?"

Rick sighed and finally sat up, stretching his arms over his head. The sheet that had been covering from the waist down had since lowered and I found myself staring (perhaps drooling is a better choice of words) over his body. If he kept that up, there wasn't going to be dinner at all. It didn't help matters that I was standing in nothing but my bra and panties. They could quickly slip off and…

"Richard, come on," I said hurriedly, before I could change my mind. I was hungry and we needed to get something to eat before all of our energy was dissipated. Going out was the most sensible thing since, at the moment, neither of us would make it through cooking something if the other was around. In public we were less likely to start things up. 

Well, _I_ was less likely.

"If we leave now, we can avoid the crowd and be back before it's to terribly late," I added, hoping he would see through the lines. 

Rick was out of bed and dressed before I could even find my skirt and blouse, which had, in fact, been thrown against the far wall. It took me another minute or two to fix my disheveled hair and find some shoes, and by the time I was ready Rick was standing intolerantly in the doorway, his arms folded across his chest. 

"Take enough damn time?" he inquired roughly. 

I swatted him on the arm with my pocketbook. "Come on," I said grabbing his hand and ignoring his language. Honestly, I was adding that to the list: the man had no patience…. for anything. And after all, patience was a virtue. 

_Review!!! _


	3. Chapter Three

_*author note at end of chappy so not to disclose plot details…however, that being said, would anyone like to volunteer to explain to my UP us history teacher tomorrow morning as to why I was writing mummy fanficiton instead of doing homework for her class?_ _…_

_no, sigh, okay, I guess I better get started on my study guide whilst you all get to read…_

**Chapter Three**

_A month later_

I thought I was just marring Evelyn, but apparently, I got her brother with the package. I liked John alright, when he wasn't drunk and all that. But sometimes, he was just a pain in the ass. Like right now. 

I had spent the better part of the late morning and early afternoon at the damn train station, waiting for his damn train to arrive, which was a couple of hours late. And now that the thing was here, John was nowhere to be found. He had probably passed out in the kitchen car, and I wasn't about to go look for him. He could end up in Zimbabwe for all I cared. It was his own damn fault for getting hammered on the train. 

Trying to appear calm as possible, I sat down in one of the uncomfortable chairs and opened up a newspaper that was lying around. Thankfully, it was written in English so I could pass the time easily. People bustled around me speaking in rushed Arabic; I couldn't understand a word of it other then the occasion cuss. I wished Evy were here. I could talk her. And she would go after her brother and we could be out of here. But I wasn't her and wasn't about to go chasing after my John. 

Evy was working- again. That's all she did was work and I was getting tired of being home alone. I had tried a few times to get a job, but nothing suited me. I just didn't want to be stuck behind some desk trying to translate some rambling Arabic with a little book. Besides that, most people in town knew my… reputation…and wouldn't hire me simply on the basis that I had been in the Legion and had a trivial prison record. That made any somewhat okay jobs unattainable. Maybe in England there would be something else. But for right now, I was stuck. 

It was another half hour before I finally spotted the man of the day. He came stumbling toward me, a big suitcase in one hand, a bottle of bourbon and that stupid gold stick in another. I was going to take that damn stick and lock it up if he didn't stop carrying it around. It made him look like even more of an idiot. 

"O'Connell," he acknowledged me, grinning. 

I stood up and flashed him a tiny smile. "Hey John," I replied back, taking the bag. "Trip okay?"

"More or less. You know they sell alcohol on the train from Alexandria now?"

"You don't say?" I asked dryly, narrowing my eyes at the bottle he was still holding. 

"Yes I do," he replied, which confirmed my suspicion that he was probably drunk. What kind of response was that? I sighed and nodded toward the far doors. 

"Car's out there." 

Jonathan nodded and followed behind me as we made our way through the thinning crowd. I didn't say anything; I wasn't really sure if there was anything to say. I hadn't seen this man in a few months, and we both knew we weren't each other's favorite person. I was the man who stole his baby sister away from him and he was the man that had known her since the day she was born, which made me slightly jealous. Course, now I probably knew her better then anyone. Without realizing it, a sly grin had formed across my face. John noticed it.

"What's so bloody funny?" he asked.

"Nothing," I replied, pushing the image of just how well I knew Evelyn out of my mind. 

Jonathan made an irritated sound and then finally asked, "Where's my baby sister O'Connell?"

We had reached the car by now and as I threw open the trunk I replied that she was at work. Jonathan didn't look too surprised at this; shrugging, he climbed into the passenger seat. 

"Nice wheels," he remarked.

I climbed in and started the engine up. The "wheels" was nothing more then a little town car Evy and I had decided to splurge and buy. Actually, we'd sort of rented it from a guy Evy knew until we moved. But who was really keeping tabs. We would have just borrowed Jonathan's car, but it had disappeared in the whole being chased by the mummy business. 

"Yeah, it gets us places," I replied as we started off. I didn't mention, however, that some of these places were in no way related to driving. More then a few times, during our Sunday drives she liked, Evy and I had ended up in the backseat. I felt sorry for the guy's family we borrowed it from; if only they knew. 

It had been pre-arranged that Jonathan would be staying with us. He was going to be here for only a couple months, Evy pointed out, and then we would all be going back to London. I protested as much as I could, claiming that John was a grown man and could take care of himself. But no cigar. Things were definitely going to have to change at the O'Connell household now. Which sucked big time. 

By the time we had gotten home, Jonathan was already blabbing about how nice it was to get back in Cairo after "that god awful London November weather." I had to shrug off that one; I was so sick of sun I could have gone for a good week of rain. But John and Evy, apparently, were in love with ninety-degree days and dry heat. Thankfully, today had been colder then usual and I had heard some talk of a storm. 

I shoved his bag into the extra bedroom. Evy had had a fit about having to move all her stuff to one side, but when I had pointed out it was her fault Jonathan was staying with us, she shut up. We had just set up an extra bed; it wasn't anything to homey. But if Jonathan was going to be bumming a place to sleep off of us for the next two months, he was going to have to deal with it.

Then I was off to pick up Evy from work. It was getting darker earlier now and it was already after four. I didn't want her walking home by herself and I wasn't about to walk there, it took to much time. Plus, picking her up gave me a chance to escape the boredom of being at home all day. I asked Jonathan if he wanted to come, but he mumbled that he ought to get cleaned up before his sister saw him. Cleaned up as in not looking so drunk. I rolled my eyes and left, slamming the door behind me.

It took only ten minutes to get to Evy's office and since I was a little early, I parked the car and walked inside. After getting lost, I finally found the right hallway and rattled on her door. 

"Come in!"

I pushed the door open and was not at all surprised at what I saw. Evy was leaning over- what else- a book, her reading glasses pushed up as far as they would go. I never really understood those glasses; she didn't seem to need them to read tiny little Egyptian script or other books. The first pair had disappeared when the Sudan caught on fire, but as soon as we had returned, she got new ones. Sometimes I thought she wore them just to look smarter. Chuckling to myself, I closed the door, and walked over to where she was. 

"Hey Baby," I greeted her, taking the liberty to sit on the edge of her desk. 

Evelyn looked up at me and grinned. "You're early," she observed. 

"Uh huh. I picked up John for ya." 

She reached over and gave me hand a little squeeze. "Thank you darling. And don't look so sour- it's only for a bit."

"He's going to be there all the time," I pointed out.

Evy rolled her eyes and then put a little marker in her book before closing it up. Then she just sat looking at me with raised eyebrows as if to ask "and your point is…"

"He'll be sharing a bathroom with us."

Nothing. Her expression never changed. 

"He'll be eating our food."

Still nada. Geez.

"You'll have to keep it down with you and I-"

"Richard!" 

At least she was talking. I started chuckling again, which made her lower her eyes at me and give me that irritated glance she has. 

"Can't you ever think of anything else?" she demanded, rolling her eyes disapprovingly and pulling her glasses away from her face. 

"Not with you around," I answered truthfully, watching as she sighed, stood up from her chair and then started gathering her things, shoving them into an oversized purse bag thing. This took her some time, and after she finally threw the last thing in- that book she had been reading- she moved to where I was and paused in front of me. I gave her a suggesting smile. 

"Honestly Rick," she said her eyes angry, but her voice giving away the fact that she was a little amused. Leaning over, she meant to give me a quick kiss, but I changed that. 

I clamped my hand on the back of her head and held her lips against mine. She resisted for a minute and then finally gave in, dropping the purse onto the floor with a thud, and throwing her arms around my neck and responding like I wanted her to. If anyone ever tried to tell me that our libidos were unhealthy, I would have laughed their head off. 

Before her office got added to the list of places that people would be sorry if they knew, I broke away, leaving us both breathing heavily and slightly flushed. 

"I missed you," I offered, trying to make light of the moment. 

Evy grinned. "I've been gone for only a few hours." 

"Too long." I wrinkled my nose at her, imitating the cute was she always did it to me. 

"Ooohhh." 

Evelyn made her trademark little response, but instead of being just irritated, it was sort of a happy-irritated. I kissed her quickly again and then pushed her away so I could jump off of the desk. My feet hit the floor with a loud thud and Evy sighed.

"You're not a subtle man, are you?" she asked, her hands on her hips and that bag swung over her shoulder. 

I just shrugged and pushed past her toward the door. She followed me out of the room, closing the door with a click, and then we were out of there before anyone could stop us. Or rather, before Evy could stop someone else. I'd noticed she had a habit of talking to anyone, whether they were listing or not. And quite often, these people were innocent tourists. 

Clouds had formed over the skies while we were occupied in her office and as we stepped outside, I glanced gratefully at the black overhead. If I was lucky, we would get some rain- finally. If it hadn't been for all the people around, or the fact that my wife was standing right there, I might have done a happy little jig. Might is the key word. For now I sufficed with a simple little grin. 

Evy didn't say much the whole way home, which meant she was preoccupied by something. I didn't ask what; content with the unusual silence. Even when we got home and she greeted her brother, she wasn't the characteristic blabbermouth. There was talk of their house and a few other trivial things, but mostly Evy just sat there and let Jonathan blab, which he was more then capable of doing.

Even stranger, she went to bed early, claiming a headache. I rolled my eyes at that one- she probably wanted to read that damn book she had been reading earlier. But I didn't say anything, just kissed her and let her be as Jonathan and I finished off the remainder of the bourbon. 

When I finally did join my wife I was not at all surprised to find her sitting up in bed, glasses and nightgown on, peering anxiously at the pages of her book. When I shut the door (loudly too), she didn't even look up, just kept on reading. I shut off the light, only to find she had the bedside lamp on. 

Quelling a groan, I undressed down to my boxers and climbed into the warm bed. Evelyn didn't even acknowledge me until I grabbed her hand. 

"Oh, hello," she responded, finally turning to look at me. 

"Good book?" I asked, trying not to sound _too_ annoyed. I should have known better; Evy's eyes lit up and she got this excited look on her face. 

"Look at this," she said, shoving the book into my face without so much as an explanation. I took it from her and studied the black and white picture- or rather- sketch on the warn pages. It looked familiar, but I couldn't figure out where I had seen it. Curiously, I folded the book over to look at the title. I shouldn't have been surprised, but I was.

"Egyptian Myths and Legends! Evelyn, what in the hell?" Evy, myths, and legends didn't mix. Not even a little bit.

Evy sighed and grabbed the book back from me. "Look," she said, opening it back up to the page with the sketch, "it's the same two people on my ring. The same headdresses and everything. They were found on a pillar at Karnack. And in the paragraphs talking about it, it's said to be Seti the first and his first wife, Tuya."

I stared at her. I knew what she was getting at. I knew it before she knew it. I already knew the story. Any treasure hunter would, just as they would Hamunaptra. And then, in one quick rambling minute, Evy shot what I already knew out of that mouth of hers. 

"According to legend, Tuya and Seti's youngest daughter, Nefertiri, was the her mother's favorite child. The Queen knew Rameses and Moses would over shadow her daughter because, unlike Nefertiri, they were destined for great things. So she hid an extravagant amount of wealth away for her daughter to have when she reached proper age. Only Tuya knew the location of the secret chamber and had it engraved on two pieces of jewelry- no one knows exactly what they were- and wore them. But, when Seti died, well, was killed, Nefertiri ran away, some say with Moses, because he disappeared around the same time, but nonetheless, never to be found again. Tuya was so heartbroken at the loss of her husband and daughter, well and a son if you count Moses, that she cast the jewelry away. After that, she retreated to bed, where she became mysteriously ill. She finally confessed about the treasure, but was never able to tell anyone where the jewelry was and was to weak to give the directions herself, only muttering 'never ending circle.' In Egyptian, of course."

"Evy."

"Now, I've been thinking-"

"Evelyn!"

"What?" she turned up to look at me a confused expression plastered across her face. 

"You're going on a lot of fate here," I pointed out. I knew she was thinking her ring had something to do with Tania or Tutuia or whatever her name was. That maybe the queen had hidden the jewelry at Hamunaptra. "No one has proved the story of Moses." It was a weak argument; Moses hardly had a thing to do with it. But I wasn't exactly thinking clearly at the moment. 

Evy cocked her head to one side. "The ten plagues arose with Imhotep," she shot back. "That has to be conclusive proof." 

Good point. "But Evy, the pictures could be a coincidence. I mean, it could be any random man and woman."

She didn't say anything and turned her gaze away from me. I knew she was totally ignoring my comment because she wanted the man and the woman to be Seti and his queen. She wanted this to be real. She wanted to be the one to prove the myth a truth. Tentatively, I leaned over and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. 

"Goodnight," I whispered, lying down. I pulled the blankets up to my chin and settled down against the cool pillows. Closing my eyes, I immediately felt very tired. The booze and long day was finally catching up with me. I vaguely wondered if I had pissed my wife off with my final comment and lay there worrying about it until I hazily heard Evy sigh, felt the rusting of blankets, and then the room was trust into darkness. I didn't move, just waited there, wanting her to come to me.

She did. In one quick motion, she had slid up to me and draped her legs across mine, one hand lying on my chest and the other above my head as she played idly with my hair. All was forgiven. I gave her another quick kiss on the top of her head as it settled against my shoulder.

Falling into a content slumber, I tried not to think of Evy's myth. But I knew, sooner or later, my dismissing the subject would come back and bite me in the ass. 

_*Alrighty, trying to tie the whole TMR thing into it and trying my best at that. Took some research, and as best as I can tell, Tuya outlived Seti because it says she lived to see Rameses become pharaoh. As for Moses, who knows. Makes a good story right? And since we don't know what happened to Miss Nefertiri from Seti's death until about 1926, maybe this will satisfy some of your curious minds. LOL._

_Thank you so much for the great reviews. I hope you all liked the chapter. Let me know what you think!_


	4. Chapter Four

_Updates afoot. Couple of notes on last chapter however…._ _The part about Moses disappearing is referring to when he left the first time, not when he led the Hebrews out of Egypt. Its actually not a big deal at all, just threw it in there for content. _ _The Sudan is the name of the boat in TM….hehehehe_ __ _Tuya was in fact the name of Seti's first wife. I am well aware that there was another, famous Tuya of "Yuya and Tuya", the parents of Queen Tiye. So, yeah, just don't get them mixed up lol. _

_Anyway, hope y'all like the new chapter. _

BTW, just watched "The Quiet American." Awesome movie, Brendan is about an 11 on the hotness scale of 1 to 10 lol. Especially in the green shirt…mmmm. Anyway, I would recommend it. 

_Enjoy!_

Chapter Four 

For the next week I did my best not to talk about the myth, or my ever-growing suspicions, in front of my cynical husband. I knew the idea of actually following up on my allegations made him nervous, if not angry, and wanted to keep my thoughts under lock and key before he could have the chance to shoot them down. 

But this didn't stop me from doing more research on the subject. Whenever I had a break at work, or some free time at home, I was pouring into book after book. Unfortunately, I was only coming up with the same information over and over again.  No one seemed to have a clue to what the two pieces of jewelry were and nobody seemed to have the slightest speculation as to where the treasure was. Most just dismissed the story as, what else, fairytales and hokum. But, as you all know, these fairytales and hokum have proved real in other situations- why couldn't they, or it, rather, be real now?

However, a few things had begun to jump out at me. Tuya had uttered "never ending circle" on her deathbed. This made me wonder what she meant, because obviously, a circle doesn't end anyway. So she had to have been talking about something specific. A ring perhaps, or maybe a bracelet? Could they possibly be the famous lost jewelry? 

I'd checked the trinkets I had kept with me from Hamunaptra (without Rick's knowledge) and one of them, a hoop earring no less, had the name of Karnack inscribed on the inside rim. Interesting development if you ask me. 

What I couldn't explain, nonetheless, was the draw this story had on me. Honestly, it was like it was calling to me. It was all I thought about; from the moment I woke up to the minute I shut my eyes. I wanted to know more, because I knew, deep in my heart, that the myth was true. And that I was destined to find it for some reason. 

I suppose I took this week to build up my courage as well. I knew that asking Rick to help me would be stepping out into a far limb. He'd formicated, quite elaborately, that he'd had quite enough of running after suspicions. However, he never said that we had to refrain from the activity all together.  

One morning at breakfast, I sat pensively, watching him devour a big plate of eggs and sausage. He ate more then anyone I knew and still managed to stay taught and fit. If I ate as he did, I would be fat as a bloody horse in no time. 

I had hardly touched my toast, picking at it with my fingers instead of eating it. When Rick noticed this, he stopped in mid bite and stared at me over his fork. 

"Everything okay?" he asked through his food, spewing eggs everywhere. Honestly! You could take the man out of the legion, but you couldn't take the legion out of the man. 

"Really Rick," I chided sternly, grabbing a napkin from the center of the table and throwing it toward him. He shrugged, cleaned up his mess quickly, and then launched the thing toward the sink where it landed, thankfully, in its rightful place.  After repeating his question, without making a mess, he went back to shoving food into his mouth, watching me over his fork. 

I took a deep breath and looked him square in the eye. "I want to go to Karnack follow up on the Treasure of Nefertiri myth."

Rick started choking on his food and immediately started whacking himself in the stomach before being able to breathe again. At once he took a big drink of his milk and then stared at me with big eyes.

"Are you fu- insane!" he yelled.

"Shh," I warned, bringing my finger to my lips. Predictably, Jonathan was sleeping one off in the next room and any sort of loud nose might wake him up, causing him to come in and start screaming about how loud everyone was. "No I'm not, and watch your language." I had to hand it to him; at least he had stopped before he had cursed instead of me reprimanding him afterward.  

"Evy, last time you-"

"We!"

"We," Rick sighed, "went chasing after legends all hell broke lose, literally." He sat staring at me long and hard, his face set in a grim expression.

I was determined to do this however and turned my expression to be just as stern as his for a moment. "Rick," I started slowly, "this isn't some hidden city with a curse hanging about it. There are no ancient books involved."

"Yet," Rick muttered darkly. 

All right, time for plan two. I slid out of my chair and crossed the kitchen floor to where he was. Perching myself comfortably in his lap, I draped my arms around his neck and laced my fingers together, creating a clasp. Rick shifted uncomfortably and didn't look at me until I thrust his chin, somewhat difficulty, up with my index finger. 

"Honey," I began sweetly, "its just Karnack."

"It was just Hamunaptra," Rick reminded me. 

"I promise, that if I can't find any other clues within a week or so we can leave. I promise," I assured him, tightening my hold.

Rick stared at me for a long time, his blue eyes peering into mine with a wide array of emotions. They changed from moment to moment; angry, then devoted, then soft, and then to suspicious. I never tore my gaze away from his own until, at last, he sighed heavily. 

"You wont read any books?"

I tried to quell my elation as I diligently shook my head. 

"And you wont open any chests that have curses on the lid?"

Again, the dutiful shaking of the head.

"Promise?" Rick was almost smiling now as he leaned his head closer to mine so that our foreheads were almost touching.

"I promise," I, well, promised, closing the gap and resting my brow against his. We both broke into big smiles and with a kiss, I jumped from my position on Rick's lap. I heard him laughing, but I didn't even care as I excitedly did a little dance right there in our kitchen. Finally, I had the power and money to go out on actual digs! And I had a husband who agreed to do it with me, even if it took just a little convincing. 

******

It took us another week and a half to completely prepare. I had to get time arranged off of work, and it actually panned out quite well. They had recently picked a new curator to take over my job when I left, and were going to use this time for a sort of a training session. Then of course, arrangements had to be made as to how we would get down to Karnack. It was finally decided upon that we would simply obtain some camels and trek there. As Rick pointed out, the less people who knew about this the better. And camels spoke to no one but themselves. 

Of course, Jonathan demanded to be taken along once he found out what was going on. This, needless to say, turned into a sort of a debate between Rick and myself. We both had reasons for taking him, and both had reservations about doing so. On one hand, John, as much as I loved him, seemed to be followed closely behind by trouble. Just the other night he had gotten into a squabble at a bar and had wound up a hundred dollars out with a black eye and a very bruised ego. And all he had done was accidentally bump into a large, angry native. He also had a mouth that couldn't be hushed and no idea when it was appropriate to do so. In addition, Rick likes his- or rather, our- privacy and was not at all thrilled about having my brother sleeping in the tent next to us.  

However, Jonathan had "saved" us once before, if you could call it that. And it would be more sensible to bring a third person along, just in case. Besides, neither Rick nor I were ecstatic at the idea of leaving him home alone in our apartment. Who knows whom he might have up there, or what he might tell them. 

So we were stuck between a rock and a hard place, as Rick would say. In the end, we agreed to take him on the accord that he realized Rick was in charge, we got to tell him what to do, and if he did anything to ruin the expedition, he was gone, quiet possibly back to England, depending on the severity of the offence. 

The morning we were set to leave, I woke up ridiculously early and climbed out of my warm bed to the crisp November air. Making some coffee for Rick and tea for myself, I began bustling around, taking care of all the meticulous last minute things that needed to be done. Rick arose a couple of hours later, and, grumbling about his cold coffee, managed to make himself presentable in a reasonable amount of time.

He didn't have to tell me; I knew he wasn't looking forward to this. His scowls, reluctance to take part in much of the planning, and his ever growing angst about the whole thing was obvious. But if it's possible, I loved him even more for doing it even though he didn't want to. I would have done the same for him. 

Jonathan was, surprisingly, sober and ready to go at the delegated time. He started whining when I told him to leave his gold stick behind, but other then that he behaved decently. 

Around eight we went down to the little shop and picked up our four camels- one for each of our persons and then another to carry things. Neither Jonathan nor I were light packers and how we had managed to only need four camels was beyond me. 

By nine we were heading south down the Nile, traveling along the shore. It was a nice day, considering it was November, and I was rather enjoying myself as I followed behind Rick. Jonathan was beside me and didn't say a word except for an occasional grunt to acknowledge one of us. Just as well, I wasn't in the mood for his insipid ramblings. 

As Cairo was fading into a smaller area, to a dot on the horizon, and then finally into nothing, I was trying my best to study Rick from my rear view.  He was hunched over his Camel, not talking at all. Every few minutes he would turn around, check to make sure we were okay, and then turn back. Once he gave me a weak smile, which I returned, but that was it.

We had been riding for a couple of hours when I finally began to miss my husband. Jonathan was, for once, silent, and I was getting very bored with just sitting there. The Nile was rapidly losing its romantic charm and the stillness of the desert was beginning to get on my nerves. Kicking the camel slightly, it sped up and I quickly catch up with Rick.

He didn't even acknowledge me as I came up beside him.

"How far do you think we'll get?" I asked softly, unable to think of anything else to say.

Rick, turning his head toward me, shrugged. He looked at me for a long moment before returning his concentration back to the horizon. 

"Could you possibly slow down," I inquired, angry with him for dismissing me like that. His camel, the strongest of the four, was traveling at a rapid pace and my poor little one couldn't keep up without a fight. 

Rick ignored me and gave his camel a swift kick. Within moments, he was ten feet ahead of me.

Ohhh…the nerve of that man! My mind kept shouting all sorts of words I'd heard him use but was too afraid to utter myself as I stopped the camel, waited for Jonathan, and then continued on my way along side him. Rick certainly had no right to treat me like that! What had I ever done to him?

"Bloody hell Evy. If you're going to fight with the man at least do it when we're not out in the middle of the blooming desert, for Christ's Sake!"

Now Jonathan chose to open that mouth of his. I was already beginning to regret bringing him along. Slowly, I turned my head and gave my brother a murderous glance. Jonathan gave me a sheepish smile and then quickly apologized. 

I rolled my eyes and turned my gaze back to Rick, now pretty far ahead of us. Well, I thought lowering my eyelids; two can play at this little game. If he didn't want to talk, I could solve that problem quickly. Very quickly. 

**_REVIEW!!!!!   :-)_**


	5. Chapter Five

_Nakhti- I stand corrected on the prehistoric book- its amazing what shit you type down when you're writing at two in the morning…even when you usually catch things like that.  I fixed it in any case. And yeah traveling chappy's are the pits._

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Be forewarned…several pages of excessive mushiness, but not unnecessary lol. It will start to make more sense, or be put into a new light if you will, as the story progresses. I'm not totally going on blind faith here.

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**_Long chapter; felt inspired during English a couple of days ago, came home, and wrote a whole mess of stuff. I love those days, don't you? Anyway, delayed posting in the hope that you might actually believe I have a life outside of fan fiction (which I do, I swear, its just that this is more entertaining…)_**

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**_Go forth and read._**

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**_Enjoy!_****__**

Chapter Five

After riding all day without so much as a bathroom break, I was beginning to get a little antsy to get off those camels. The damn things smelled funny and the rocking sensation was making me sick to my stomach. Not to mention the fact that I was a little bored and a little anxious to get camp set up before dark. The hint of dusk on the horizon made me finally decide to stop.

Picking a spot close to the river, I jumped off my camel and landed with a thud in the sand. As I was scanning the surrounding area, my hands on my hips, Evy and her brother came up and paused their camels behind mine.

"Are we stopping O'Connell?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, this looks like a good a spot as any."

Jonathan breathed a loud sigh of relief and was instantly off his transportation. Grumbling about something, he shot me an annoyed look and then ran behind a bunch of inland reeds on the store. 

Gross. I did not want to witness what he was definitely going to do. Shaking my head, I went over to where Evy's camel was and held out my arms for her. To my surprise, her nose shot up in the air and she swung her legs over to the other side, jumping off opposite of where I was. Grabbing her book out of a little bag, she scampered off angrily. 

I stood there, dumbfounded, scratching my head as I watched her walk off. What the hell had that been about?

"So what now?"

Jonathan's voice broke through my thoughts and I turned slowly to look at him.

"What?"

"What do we do now?" 

God, I had bigger problems right now then his incompetence to take charge of anything. Course, I had told him not to think he was in charge. Great. 

"Ah, help me unload this stuff. We'll set up a couple of tents of the night and then I'll get dinner started." 

It took us a while to actually get this done. First of all, Jonathan seems to have the same innate clumsiness that Evy has down to an art. Twice he had brought one of the almost-ready tents crashing to the ground. Second of all, he was just plain lazy. He wouldn't carry anything unless it weight about as much as a pin and complained when I would tell him was going to have to. 

And third, Evy wouldn't help. John and I both tried asking her politely, a little more sternly, and then finally yelling at her to help. I just got a cold stare, Jonathan at least got a "You're handling it just fine." 

And so, it took twice as long to set up and it was dark when we finally did. It got cold too. Out here, towards winter, the temperature can drop like a hat in a matter of an hour. We were all standing around the fire, trying to keep warm. Well, Evy was still sitting on her ass, reading a book, while Jonathan and I were standing around cooking dinner and trying to keep warm. Actually, a can of soup was more like it; hardly dinner, but still food. As I stirred the grub over the open fire, my arm carefully posed so not to get burned, I kept one eye on Evy.

Sitting across the flame, her eyes caught a little of the glow every time they inched upward. When she saw me looking at her, they would fall again, scanning over the words. Hypocrite. She looked cold in her flimsy blouse and skirt, but she was trying to make it look as if she wasn't by sitting far away from the fire- the fire I had made. Every so often, her delicate hand would run over the pages of the book, come to rest on the corner and then the page would turn over delicately. I don't have to tell you what this did to me inside. I wanted to be that book.

But at the same time, I wanted to make her suffer the way she was making me suffer. Sighing, my eyes went to the soup and I stopped stirring as I watched for any signs that it was getting close to boiling. Nothing, not even a tiny bubble. My eyes returned to Evy. She was shivering. I wanted to run over there and put my arms around her, give her the shirt off my back…possibly do other things that would keep us both warm. But I was pretty sure she would kick me- hard- in places that I wouldn't like. 

Jesus, it was like all those nights coming home from Hampunaptra; not knowing how far was to far. At least then she had been talking to me. Now my own wife wouldn't even look at me. 

I still couldn't figure out why she was pissed. I hadn't accidentally sworn lately, I hadn't left my shoes in the middle of the entryway, I hadn't done a lot of things she usually got on me about. And, I'd agreed to come out here with her. What was the big deal?

"Rick?"

I didn't hear Jonathan the first time. But the second time, when he hit me over the head simultaneously, I heard, and felt, him. 

"What the hell do you want?" I asked, annoyed, as I turned my attention from my pissed off wife to my pissed off looking brother in law.

Jonathan was standing with his hands on his hips, looking down at me. "You going to let that burn?" he asked, pointing to the soup.

I immediately looked down to find I had stopped stirring the soup and now it was boiling…over the pot and into the fire. And it was hot! I jumped up, said some things that would have given Evy every right to be angry, and pulled the pot away, setting it down in the sand with another curse. 

"Burned my damn hand!" I yelled to no one in particular, mostly just to hear myself say it. "Damn it!" I whisked the injured hand back and forth quickly, resisting the urge to run down to the river and dunk it in. I wasn't about to be a baby over something like this. 

When the pain finally began to subside, I looked around to find a slightly angry looking Jonathan and a bewildered Evy, who was sitting there with her mouth halfway open.  She seemed to have forgotten not wanting me to catch her looking as she stared from her position, the book lowered to her lap. 

"I'm fine," I grumbled to both of them. Jonathan gave me a strange look and then went about filling three tin bowls with the damn soup. I wasn't in the mood now, but my stomach told me otherwise as I began to dive in. The hot food felt good against the cold and after the long day. I almost didn't notice how Jonathan brought one bowl back, almost, but not quite. 

"Is Evy not eating?" I asked my brother in law in a hushed tone as he sat back down beside me. 

Jonathan shrugged and began eating his dinner. "She said she's feeling under the weather," he offered after a few spoonfuls. 

Sick my ass. She looked perfectly fine to me, as I sat starting at her again. She kept her nose in that damn book and was killing me every time she turned a page without looking up to see if I was still watching. Screw this; I was going to go find out what the hell she was mad about. 

Setting my bowl down harshly, I jumped up and stalked over to where she was. She looked at me in shock as I pulled her up by her arm and started pulling her off.

"What do you think you doing?" she demanded, hitting me with her book. 

I didn't answer her, tried to ignore the pounding on my arm, and led her about ten yards away from where Jonathan was, close to the Nile. When we stopped and I let go of her, she stared at me with a very pissed looking expression.

"What the hell is this about?" I asked before she could start in on one of her yelling fits. 

"You know perfectly well," Evy said harshly, folding her arms over her chest and giving me that same angry look.

At least she was talking to me without hitting me. "Ah, no, I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No, I don't!" I roared. I could see it already; this was going to turn into one of those little battle of the wills that she would probably win if I didn't keep my head clear. 

She gave me another lethal stare, which I had to admit, was a little sexy. It didn't help that she was standing there shivering, her hair wildly framing her face, her chest heaving up and down….

_Wow._

_Focus O'Connell! Remember that clear head thing?_

"Look, Evy," I gently took her by the shoulders, despite her resistance, and held her firmly in front of me. "What did I do?"

She didn't say anything for a long minuet. A very long minute. Then finally she sighed. And burst into tears.

_What in the hell?_

First of all, Evy hardly ever cried. Second of all, she didn't cry over stuff like this when she did. I didn't really know what to do, so I just stood there. This went on for a good couple of minutes before she started to spill her guts. "You were being so harsh earlier," she chocked out between sobs. "I don't care if you don't want to be here Rick, but at least be a little civilized about it." 

Oh God, was that was this was about. Jesus Christ. Wow. Talk about your hormonal issues. Geez. Ohh, but this was not good. I hadn't meant to be mean; I really didn't know how long it was going to take us. And I figured it was funny when I sped up. Oh God. What an asshole. 

"Evy, look," I began, carefully moving closer to my wife, who was still sobbing her poor little heart out.  "I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be like that."

She started crying harder. Geez! What was I suppose to do now? I just waited, running my hands nervously through my hair. 

"You don't want to do anything with me," she sobbed, covering her face with her hands, making it even harder for me to understand her. "I was okay with that until you started acting like it was the end of the world! I thought this would be fun; something we could do together. I've been spending so much time at work lately…I feel like we don't even know-" 

Her words gave way to complete sobs and she never finished her sentence. Oh man, now I really felt like an idiot. Is that was she thought? "Evy," I whispered her name softly before gently placing my arm around her slender waist, my hand resting in the small of her back. This seemed to calm her a little bit, but she kept breathing erratically and every few moments she would sob loudly. 

"Honey, I-" I didn't know what to say to her. I hated confrontations like this. Usually, I just let my actions speak for me. But I had a hunch those weren't going to work very well- right now at least. I was going to have to try to talk to her in that whole mushy type way.  

"Look, its not that I don't want…I do, I do want to do stuff with you."

_Brilliant O'Connell._

"I just- its just that, well, this isn't exactly my idea of…ya know…relaxed fun."

Somewhere in the course of the last two statements I had pulled her closer and, to my surprise, she hadn't pulled away. She had stopped crying, which was a good thing, except for now she wasn't saying anything at all. And the silence was almost too much. 

"It's just, uh, I, I…worry about you, ya know? It's dangerous out here. And I don't want anything to happen to you. Cuz, um, I kinda like ya."

That had to be going under the dumbest lines of all time. I kinda like ya? She was my wife and I couldn't even admit that I was head over heals in love with her, even when she was upset and thinking that I didn't want to be around her. Sighing to myself, I pulled her closer, crushing her body against mine. I felt her relax and she gently wrapped her arms around my waist, hugging me close. 

"I'm sorry," I whispered at the base of her ear, kissing the lobe softly. 

Evelyn didn't say anything, just made a couple of little sniffling sounds and buried her head against my chest. I held her for a long time, relishing the comforting sensation of her body snuggled up against mine. Her quiet sounds soon gave way to silence and for a while she just stood there, holding on to me tightly. Rocking her back and froth soothingly, I tired to keep my mouth shut, knowing any further words on my part would completely ruin the moment. At last, I heard her hoarse voice piecing through the night. 

"I'm sorry as well Rick. I didn't mean to overreact like I did. "

Her face turned towards mine, tear stains blotching her red face. I softly kissed them away and then tenderly kissed the top of her forehead, right below her hairline. 

"I appreciate what you said, about wanting to protect me," she went on as I continued my exploration of her familiar facial curves. She paused for a moment, allowing me to trace a moist line from the base of her neck up across the bottom of her chin and around the side, following her jaw line. "Are you angry with me?" she asked huskily after another minute or so.

Little tease. She knew I wasn't. I broke away from my progressive assault on her neck and brought my head up to look at her. 

"Ah, no," was the best thing I could come up with at that particular moment. You see, I wasn't exactly thinking clearly, my mind too focused on kissing her again…everywhere this time. I wanted to go back to work on her neck, maybe move to her mouth; slowly and tantalizingly take in her entire body. 

I think my wife must be a mind reader; leisurely (and painfully, for your information) she moved against me and finally I saw her break into that winning smile. 

"Would you like to go talk for a while?"

"Talk?" my voice, squeaking as it had a habit of doing, croaked out. Talking was definitely not what my body wanted to do right now. Eh, I take that back. It was, if this talking also involved being stripped down and…

Woah, going too far in the mental images. As I was shaking my head in attempt to be rid of those pictures, I felt my tormenter leave me and when I looked again, she was sauntering off towards camp. 

Ya know? If I didn't know better, I would have swore she was planning that the whole time. The whole damn time. 

**Keep the reviews coming!**


	6. Chapter Six

_Eh, sorry about the delay. But I finally have a weekend off from work and everything, so here ya go! Next chapter we start to get into the actually Karnack-Egypty-Mystery-Adventure stuff. So lol, sorry, you're just going to have to "suffer" through the fluffness. Enjoy, and lemme know what ya think!!_ _As always, they're not mine…except for the people I make up, which aren't even in this chapter…so go figure…_ Chapter Six 

Not long after I left Rick standing behind me, I paused, turned my head and gestured for him to catch up. He did, in a mere couple of seconds, and hand in hand we returned back to camp. The fire, dancing in the sluggish wind, gave off welcomed warmth as Rick and I settled down next to it. However, being consumed by a fire other then the physical one before me, I was quite warm wherever I was.

Sitting in his arms, listing to the quiet sounds of the tranquil desert night, I pondered the day's emotional stresses.  I was rather perturbed by the whole ordeal. First of all, I had overreacted to Rick's somewhat-typical mannerisms in such a way that even I was a little shocked. It had simply made me extremely angry, and I could not figure out why on earth this was so. He had done worse things that I hardly even noticed, or chose to dwell on. And second of all, I was unquestionably not one to cry at a battle of wills with my husband, much less turn into a blabbering idiot.  

It was all an enigma that, as all puzzles tend to do, weighed heavily on my thoughts. I wanted to figure out what was going on. I was, quite understandably, a little stressed about the impending expedition. But that was hardly a strain, hardly enough to make me become all emotional. 

Without meaning to, I sighed heavily, breaking through the silence. 

Rick's hold around me tightened slightly. "Everything okay?" he asked quietly. 

Turing my head to gaze up at him, I started smiling softly. "I'm fine, Rick."

From across the fire, I heard Jonathan sigh loudly. When I looked at him, he was scowling in that way he has. "You two bloody make me sick," he complained, shaking his head. "I'd forgotten what it was like being around you so much."

"Thank you Jonathan," I retorted dryly. "If you don't like it, you can very well leave." 

Standing up and brushing the dust and sand off of his clothes, Jonathan replied that he was going to do just that.  Saluting us in a peculiar manner, he quickly retreated into his private tent. As soon as the little flap-door closed, Rick kissed the side of my neck in such a way that goose bumps arose across my arms.

"Honey," I protested weakly, not wanting him to stop and wishing he would at the same moment. "We're in the middle of the desert." 

"So?" was Rick's comment. 

I sighed wistfully and somehow managed to push his lips away from my neck.  Rick made a whimpering sound; I gently patted him on the knee. 

"Oh, come on," I chided tenderly, offering an unspoken compromise by settling deeper into his lap.  This gambit, however, caused another problem, as now he and I were closer together.  I could feel things I couldn't feel before.  His breath warmed my skin, sending shivers down my arms, my back. Meaningfully, his hand squeezed my shoulder.  Closing my eyes, I sighed happily. 

_All right Rick…so what if we're in the middle of the desert and Jonathan is in the tent text to ours? Pick me up…carry me away. I want you here and now._

"Evelyn?"

Rick's voice, suddenly flat in sound, hushed and cold, broke through my fantasy. Alarmingly, my eyes shot open to see him staring off in the distance.  I followed his gaze, but finding nothing in return.

"What?" I asked, my own voice now subdued. 

"Look," Rick whispered, holding up his hand and pointing his index finger toward the horizon. "See that yellow light?"

Again, I looked to where he was hinting at. Ahh, there it was! Just off in the distance was a flickering glow, illuminating the area around it. Squinting my eyes, I tired to get a better look.

"Is it a campfire?"  

Rick nodded solemnly, "Looks like it." 

I didn't understand. "What's the big deal? It could very well be Bedouin."

Scoffing at my comment, Rick shook his head. "There aren't any around here; we would have seen them." 

Somehow I doubted that, but I kept my mouth shut. I had already caused, or helped cause, one squabble today. I had to admit however, it was a bit troubling; all known digs were presently taking place south of us or near Alexandria. There shouldn't be any other people out here with the exception of the natives. But of course, they had every right to be so and they could very well be camping out for one reason or another. 

"Honestly Rick," I finally said, sighing again. "Its probably some poor Arab."

Oh, but too late. My husband had already set into soldier-mode and he glanced at me like I was talking nonsense. Grumbling something I couldn't understand, he pushed me off of his lap and into the sand. 

"I'm going to keep watch," he said defiantly, standing up and drawing his ever-present pistol out of its holster. 

Rolling my eyes, I picked myself up off the ground. "Richard," I whined his name softly, my hands moving to my hips. "C'mon, its cold out. I need you to keep me warm." I stuck out my bottom lip and gave him puppy dog eyes. 

Rick eyed me for a few moments; he was trying to decide whether or not to give in. I knew; I could tell by the look in his eyes. I helped him along in his decision, batting my eyelids, slowly but regularly, and tilting my head to one side. 

"God damn it Evelyn," he groaned, taking a couple of steps towards me.

My hands relaxed and a soft smile formed on my lips as he wrapped one arm around my waist. 

"You really want me to stay?" he asked, reminding me of when he asked me if I really wanted to know the location to Hamunaptra. My answer now was the same as it had been then.

"Well, yes." 

A devilish look forming in his eyes, he leaned in and softly kissed me. Melting against him, I felt my knees begin to weaken, my heart beat faster with each touch, each kiss.  I was well on my way to being in complete oblivion; I was clay in my creator's hands. This was not an innocent embrace, nor kiss. Rick knew what he was doing and what he was doing to me in the process. He knew that any moment now we would both forget any inhibitions that lay as stones in our path. We would drop everything and continue our progressive journey into a world that only we knew.

And then he pulled away.

Opening my eyes, I found him walking placidly away, as if nothing had happened. He didn't even look back to see if I were watching him. 

I sighed, disappointed, and I admit, a little angry, and turned, walking towards our tent. It seemed large and uninviting as I pulled the flab backed and sulked in.  Our beds were made up, making me immediately remember exactly who had made them up. And why I had not been there in the process. Cringing, I laid down, not bothering to get undressed save to un-tuck my shirt from my skirt and to slip off my shoes.  I was, in truth, too tired to look for my nightgown. This was uncompleted and required little effort. 

But not very comfortable. 

Sighing once again, I tried to get my skirt to stop sticking to my skin and my shirt to loosen up as I moved about. Finally, after a good deal of careful maneuvering and skillful placing of fabric, I was situated. Well, except for the fact that I only had one pillow. I reached across and grabbed Rick's from his area; if he wasn't here to claim it that was his own fault. I placed my own under my head and then hugged his to my body. It smelled like him, which was a danger and a comfort at the same time. 

_Now_, I was situated. Watching the fire dance languidly though the tent walls, I felt my eyelids become heavier and heavier as they inched closer to completely shut. I wanted so badly to stay awake, hopeful Rick would change his mind and come snuggle up with me. But at the same moment another force was towing me toward dreamland. I wasn't completely sure which force would win the battle, but either way I would be content. 

More thoughts of Rick occupied my brain as I waited for nature to choose its path. I loved him more then I knew how to express, and it pained me to think of how I hurt him earlier. That had never been my intention. Sometimes we were both to stubborn for our own good, I think. Very often it got the best of us.

Things always turned out for the best however. We both loved each other too much to let differences in opinion cause to much damage. And if there was in fact harm, the making up certainly fixed any problems that might linger.

Rick was complicated that way. He always let his actions speak, rather then the words that I knew were at the base of his throat. I wasn't entirely sure why this was so, and for a while it got on my nerves. That was, until, I realized that it was just in his character. A man of little words, but his actions spoke volumes. And while I could count on one hand the number of times he had actually stated the words "I love you" to me, the number of times he had shown me such was immeasurable. 

Related thoughts lured me to sleep that night, accompanied by the quiet cracking of the fire and the soft wind. The last image that crossed my foggy brain was that of my husband, quietly looking into the tent to check up on me, asking if I was doing all right and whether or not I was asleep. 

I hadn't the energy to reply.

********

When I awoke the next morning, I was not at all surprised to find Rick sill absent from our bed. No doubt he had spent the entire night pacing around the camp, worrying about something that hardly presented itself as a threat. Our experiences had changed him in that way; anything that could be was a potential problem and if there was a way to repress it, he would be there. 

I threw the blankets aside and sat up, stretching my lazy arms over my head and yawning. My back was stiff, my head hurt, but I felt none of it. As I thought of the journey ahead, I felt the flutter of excitement start in my belly.

Or perhaps it was something else. As I stood, I felt a wave of strong nausea come over me, elevating the funny flutter in my stomach. I paused at the tent flap and groaned softly, remembering I had not eaten last night. Another prime example of how stubbornness had gotten the better of me, again. Refusing Rick's dinner had been a foolish thing to do on my part; out here that sort of thing could kill you. 

Weakly, I stumbled out of the tent and into the bright sunlight. It made me feel dizzy and had Rick not seen me start to waver, I might have fallen over. He was there in no time, grabbing me by the arm and holding me upright.

"You all right?" he asked, looking at me with a concerned expression. 

I moaned and leaned against him, thankful for his strong body. I shut my eyes and buried my head into the warm folds of his shirt, letting his arms encircle me. 

"You should have eaten," he chided softly, figuring out what was wrong without me having to explain. For this I was grateful; I feared that if I opened my mouth the food that I had consumed for breakfast yesterday would, without a doubt, reappear. 

I let him lead me over to the campfire and set me down gently on a blanket upon the sand. I feebly complied with what he told me to do and let him fuss over me as he brought first some water and then the corner off a loaf of bread. 

They seemed to calm my stomach and by the time Jonathan emerged from his tent a half an hour later, I was feeling much better. Rick wouldn't let me help with the clean up however, telling me to sit down repeatedly and to stay there. I argued that I hadn't helped yesterday and that I owed both of them, but he would have none of it.  Stubborn man.

It was another hour before we were situated to go. Rick, having assured himself that I was perfectly fine to ride on my own camel, told me to stay close and kept me there the entire day. Jonathan rode along the other side, and although it felt a bit like I was a prisoner between my husband and my brother, I was hardly mad. I was too excited with the road ahead. And for Karnack, which was getting closer and closer with each minute.

I quite forgot about the strange campfire, and in all honesty, I think Rick did too. 


	7. Chapter Seven

_Sorry about the lack of updates. Talk to my manager at work, or my teachers at school, if you really want to take it up with someone. _

_Once again, they aren't mine._

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Chapter Seven 

A few days later we stood- or rather sat on camels- about twenty yards from what Evy said was the initial entrance to the temples at Karnack. I didn't really think there was an "entrance" since you could get in from numerous places, but I didn't argue with her. I'd learned that what Evelyn said about Egypt was probably true so it was best to just leave it as is. 

She had been having strange mood swings the last couple of days- angry and tired one minute, all smiles the next. I took it that the sleeping on the ground, eating from a can or bag, and the lack of sanitation were starting to take effect, as they were on Jonathan and myself.  I desperately wanted a shower and my poor face was rather beat up from having to shave without a mirror. Evy could stand to clean up a little too, but eh, I wasn't one to dwell on such things. Especially since I'd been with guys- and women for that matter- who smelled and looked ten times as worse, and that was on a daily basis! Compared to them, Evy was a bed of roses.

Speaking of my darling wife, as we sat staring at Karnack, she, in a typical Evelyn way, was going off about something related to the complex. I had chosen to stop listening when she got to the part about what temples were dedicated to what gods. I couldn't even remember which gods were which, how was I suppose to remember what they looked like, what temple was theirs, and why it was theirs? Besides, I didn't much care. I wanted to get this over with and get back to Cairo so we could get to London. Enough of this sand, and heat, and crazy Egyptian stuff. 

"Rick?"

My head jerked to my left, where Evy sat giving me a knowing look. Busted. She could tell I hadn't been listing.  I grinned debonairly at her, which at least drew a tired-looking, cute grin to her face. 

"I would suppose that where we should start would be over there," she continued, turning her attention back to Karnack and pointing off in the distance. "At the Hypostyle Hall. That's where most of the carvings and relief's from the nineteenth dynasty are."

"Isn't that the part with all the pillars and what not?" Jonathan spoke up from the other side of Evelyn, his hands flailing about. 

Evy snorted a laugh. "Of course," she responded, as if it should be blatantly obvious to those of us who didn't eat, breath, sleep, and drink, Egypt. She shot Jonathan an annoyed look and in return he rolled his eyes visibly at her. Evy's mouth dropped oven and she turned back to me, protesting about how juvenile he was being and "couldn't I do something?"

"So ah, what now?" I asked, doing my best to ignore her dramatics and the squabble with her brother. Eh, bad move. Evy shot me an exasperated glance and then, kicking her camel in the rear, took off in a mad dash. 

Jonathan came up beside me and paused in Evy's vacated spot. "Wouldn't think to much of it Rick; being here is hard for her."

That one caught me off guard. "Whaddya mean, 'hard'," I asked, putting quotations around the word with my fingers. 

"You don't know?"

Shaking my head, I kicked the camel in the same manner my wife had and, in a more sluggish pace, starting going after her. Jonathan was right behind me and when he finally caught up, asked the question again, adding a "really" before "don't".

"No!" I said, annoyed. I would much rather talk to Evy about this, thank you very much. 

But Jonathan started talking again. "Karnack was the first place our father took Evy when we first came to Egypt; her first real field experience. She was eight then, and having begged Father to take her out for years, he finally brought her down here and they spent days going through every single temple."

Oh.

"After they died, she came down here for a couple of days and just sat in one of those little temple rooms. Poor old mum; the reality of it really hit hard. When I finally tracked her down, she was crying and in general, was a big mess. I practically had to drag her away. But now, Karnack has bittersweet memories. And I'm not surprised to hear she hasn't said a word to you."

Ouch. That one kind of hurt. I wish she'd said something to me, especially since now I kind of had an idea of where the bitch-act might be coming from. Poor thing. 

"How'd they die?" I found myself asking as we continued after Evy. She had, by now, slowed down a bit and we were catching up to her. 

"The war," Jonathan answered, his voice surprisingly calm and even, as if he talked about this every day. "Evy was away at school when it happened. Mum and Father were walking home from someplace when there was a grenade attack." 

I felt my stomach tighten. From what Evy _had_ told me about her parents, they were the tough, explorer type, much like herself. To go out by a grenade attack was rather…disappointing, for lack of a better word or far-reaching vocabulary. It made me think of my own parents. It was a hall I would rather not go down, but my mind settled on it anyway. 

Daniel and Mary O'Connell's story was not as noble; there had been a fire, they didn't get out. Simple as that. I had been only six at the time, so I had been sent to live with my bitchy aunt in New York until one day when she too croaked, upon which I was sent to another uncle, in Cairo, and when he got shot, I got stuck in an orphanage. That arrangement didn't last long; I had enough by the time I was seventeen and managed to escape. End of story. Well, not really, but you know.

I was silent as we finally caught up with Evelyn, and for once, Jonathan didn't make some worthless comment. Even my wife was quiet as we rode into Karnack. Finding a spot in the something-a-rather temple, I made the other two help set up camp and made sure we were situated before I let them do their own thing. We had gotten better at setting up camp in record time- two tents in a matter of ten minutes, rest of our stuff in nice little piles quicker then that- and with no time we were making plans for the rest of the day. To Jonathan, this meant grabbing a bottle of whisky and heading off in the opposite direction of Evy. I choose to follow the latter.

"Hon?"

Pausing, as if finally noticing that I was following her, she turned and gave me a tiny smile. Over her shoulder she held a sling bag stuffed to the brim with books (and hopefully various tools), and for once her tiny high heals had been replaced with tough boots that stuck out under her skirt. The best part was this huge, black, oversized, floppy hat she wore on her head. It made her look so tiny, but cute at the same time. As I approached, I noticed a little smudge of dirt under her right eye and when I got to her, I tenderly wiped it off.  

"Having fun yet?" she asked, still grinning. 

I chuckled. Hell ya. This was just loads of fun. "Sure," I answered. "You're here, ain't ya?"

"Aren't you," Evy corrected, giving me that cute little annoyed look and then turning away from me. Slugging that big bag up and re-positioning it on her shoulder, she started off again, heading toward this big wall ahead of us, the hat flopping up and down. 

I rolled my eyes behind her back. 'Aren't you', sure, sure, sure. Okay. Whatever. Personally, I didn't care. We were in the middle of the desert, who was going to bother to make sure I spoke correctly? Only Evy.

Shaking my head and heaving a loud sigh, I continued after her. She made no point to slow down, her mind way to focused on finding some wall she kept going on about. Again, I was choosing not to listen, but this time she didn't stop me when she noticed I wasn't paying attention. She just sighed and kept on talking. Sometimes I wondered if she talked just to hear her own voice. I mean, she was always saying _something_, unless she was pissed, or asleep. But even in her slumber, my little Evy would start mumbling incoherent things. So that didn't really count. When she gave you the silent treatment, you _knew _something as up. 

"Ah…here we are!" 

My mind focused on the present as I scanned the area quickly, checking for any possible problems, of any sort. No sarcophagi, no walking dead guys, no books (other then Evy's) and not another soul in site. All that was around was a big wall with a bunch of ruins scattered around it. It almost looked like it had been a room at one point, but three thousand years can do a lot. 

Sun shinning on her hat, Evy triumphantly sat down the huge bag and placed her hands on her hips, grinning like a kid who's just found a stash of Christmas presents. 

"This is just marvelous!" she exclaimed. 

"Ah, yeah, marvelous honey," I echoed, running my hands nervously through my hair for the thousandth time this trip. Sign of weakness, I really had to stop doing it. 

Her smile quickly faded and she shook her head, rolling her eyes at me. "You know, Rick-"

"So lets get to work, shall we?" I asked, interrupting her before she could reprehend me, or worse, start talking about Egyptian stuff again. I stalked over to the bag, and rummaged through it as she stood looking over my shoulder. When, after a few minutes, I found only two little brushes, a pick, and about a dozen books, I straightened up and looked at her.  

We just started at each other for a moment before she finally said, "Would you like to know what we're looking for?"

Ouch. Her voice was cold; she was angry. I nodded meekly in response to her question. I really didn't want to piss her off even more. I could easily picture the entire conversation in my head: she would yell, I would yell, we would both lose our heads and the next thing I knew I would be shivering in the cold instead of sleeping next to her. 

Evy didn't smile at me as she reached down and picked up one of the books. After dusting bits of the sand off of the cover, she opened it up to a book-marked page and shoved it in front of my face.

"This cartouche," she explained, her voice low, "is Tuya's." She tapped it a few times with her index finger, as if drilling it into my brain with each touch. "It should be anywhere anything to do with the myth is. And if not," she flipped to another page, "this is Seti's. Keep an eye out for his as well." 

Again, I nodded. No way in hell was I going to memorize what the little name thingies looked like, so when Evelyn shoved the book into my hands, I thankfully took it. She took a deep breath and then nodded toward the wall. 

"Lets get to it."

And so, for several painstakingly long hours my wife and I carefully brushed sand off of a wall, looking only for clues. Nothing seemed to come up though, no matter how cautiously we searched. There was only, according to Evy, a bunch of battle stories and a couple of prayers to the gods. I began to get bored about halfway through, slacked off, and then got yelled at for not doing it correctly. Then we had to go back through half of it because Evy needed to check. This pissed me off and then she began to get frustrated and I began to get frustrated until we both had had enough. When she threw her little brush on the ground, I knew we were done for the day. Or at least for a little while. 

Groaning, I flopped down on the sand and lay back, folding my arms behind my head and using them for an uncomfortable pillow. Evelyn stood over me for a moment, illumined by the bright afternoon sun, and didn't say anything. 

"Sorry to be such a prissier," she finally mumbled, her hands going defiantly toward her hips. 

I shrugged as best I could with my arms and hands as they were and shook my head. "Get down here."

With a soft smile, she sank down to the sand and curled up next to me, resting her chin on my chest and staring up at me. "You're not angry with me, are you?" she asked, nipping at me shirt with her dirty hands. 

Damn it. She knew that by asking me like that I wouldn't say I was mad because she knew I would look like a jerk if I did. So I didn't say anything. 

"I just, I want to find it so bad," she continued, elaborating on my point that she liked to talk just to hear herself. "I feel like its mine or something of the sort. And I like things done a certain way and it just makes me out of sorts when they aren't. I'm not sure why. But this legend Rick, it's calling to me. I really think its true. I want to be the one to proves it."

I sighed and brought my arms out from behind my head, resting it on the sand. Reaching up, I tucked some of her stray hair behind her one ear, which made her smile a little. My other hand instinctively went to her back, gently rubbing it in tiny circles. "I want you to be the one to find it and prove it too," I finally responded. And I did. I wanted her to be the one because I knew it would make her happy. And I wanted her to be happy. Even if that meant I had to do something I really didn't want to. But then again, hadn't that always been the case? 

She smiled happily at me and rested her cheek on my chest. "You know I love you Rick." 

I chuckled nervously. She wanted me to say it back, and I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to. But I couldn't. It just wasn't all that natural for me, expressing what I felt like that. It was like there was too much pressure; she was waiting for me to say it. I could, sometimes, when it was spontaneous, or, for example, writing it down was no problem. But saying it out loud, when she was expecting me to, was hard. Instead, I sat up a little and gave her a long kiss atop her head, squeezing her body closer to mine with my arms. 

She sighed and I saw her eyes start to drift shut. Naptime didn't sound like a bad idea, especially since there was no one and nothing stopping us. My eyes instinctively inched lower and lower, my body beginning to relax. I was about ready to drift off when suddenly there was a shadow above me, blocking the warm sun.

"Ah, people…" 

When I opened my eyes, Jonathan stood over us, peering down anxiously. He held a bottle in his right hand and was fluttering the left in the air nervously. Evelyn's head rose from my chest and she rolled over to look up at her brother.

"Something the matter, Jonathan?" she asked. 

"I think- I think you'd better come see this," was all he said. 

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**_Aren't I just evil??? Anyway, review!_**


	8. Chapter Eight

Here you go and enjoy, because I am not sure when I will be able to get the next chapter in. Go see Runaway Jury if you get the chance…just got back from my second trip an hour or so ago. Its really good. And kudos to anyone who picks up on the reference to one of Eve's stories. Cracked me up in the theater. Well, I suppose it wasn't a reference to her story in particular, but it was a strange coincidence, especially considering "Evy" is in the movie. Hehe. 

**Changed the "_____________" part that appeared halfway through chapter. No clue where that came from or why. Who knows with computers, right?**

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**_Comments and such are must appreciated :)_**

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Chapter Eight 

As I started with disbelieving eyes at the scene unfolding before me, I could not help but feel my heart start to pound and my hands begin to sweat. There absolutely no possible way I was seeing what I was seeing. It was too unreal, too unbelievable…too unfortunate. But I was seeing it, and I knew my eyes weren't lying to me because Jonathan and Rick were seeing it too.

Not a hundred meters from our very own meager camp, another band of seekers (well men to be precise as I saw none of my sex present) were setting up their own abode. There were about twenty or so of them, most natives, but a few whites. And in the center of them all was the last person in the world I expected to see there.

Jonathan, Rick, and I were crouching around a doorway, peering at the misfortune. We hadn't yet made our presence known, but Rick, ever ready for action, had his pistol out in one had and his other was balled into a fist. He wanted to make himself known, I could tell by the frustration painted across his face. But even he knew that doing so was probably not the best thing at this point.

"Who are these guys?" Rick growled under his breath.

I was standing behind and sort of below him as he watched. "You don't recognize him?" I asked, eluding the 'guys' and focusing on who, at least in my opinion, was the head of this scheme.  

"Nuh-uh," was my husband's oh-so-grammatically correct response. 

"It's Mr. Logan…from the museum." There was always something about that man that made me uneasy; he irked me in a way that was indescribable. But now I had reason to dislike him. He had, undoubtedly followed us here. Although, I couldn't figure out how or why. Well, off course it had something to do with the myth. But why did he care all of the sudden? And more importantly, how did he know I was going in the first place. I hadn't breathed a word to anyone other then Jonathan and Rick. I knew Rick wouldn't have mentioned it to anyone, but Jonathan….

I looked across the doorway to my brother. He read my face like a cover of a book, throwing up his hands, claiming innocence. "I didn't tell him, I swear! I just bloody found out about the thing before you dragged me off."

Dragged him off? He had begged us to come. How easily he forgets that with one simple word he could be sitting at home by himself. Well, very likely _not_ by _himself_, but my brother's "love" life was not something I choose to think about often, or at all. 

Rick had been quiet for several minutes until, finally, I heard his deep voice come through the silence. "I'm gunna kick his ass from here clear back to England."

"Honey," I chided softly, lying a hand on his arm. "We don't even know why he's here." Well, of course we did. But I didn't want Rick to know that I knew. It was blatantly obvious though and he stated that he knew so in his next comment.

"Oh, c'mon Evy, you know he followed us here. Why the hell else would he just be camping out at Karnack with fifty thousand Egyptian workers?"

Rick's voice by this time had risen about ten decibels louder then one's speech should be when they are trying to keep cover. I tried to shush him, but I was too late. Mr. Logan had looked up from his position and was squinting, as if trying to figure out who we were. All at once, I saw his face pale and then quickly return to normal color. Before I had time to react to that, he started sprinting toward us. 

Gun pointed, Rick immediately jumped from behind the wall and stood in the doorway. I was close behind him, although, I must confess, unarmed. Jonathan had the sense to put down his bottle and grab a rock off of the ground. A lot of good that would do us, but it was better then nothing. 

Mr. Logan held up his hands, much as Jonathan had done moments before, as he approached. "Hey! Hold on there!"

Rick didn't let his guard down one bit, he stood firm as ever, pistol pointed and ready at the approaching body. His jaw was set tight and he looked as if any one thing might set him off. As Mr. Logan got closer, Rick's finger tightened on the trigger, so much so that I began to get worried. Goodness sakes, we didn't want to kill me poor man. However, I was angry with him none the less. 

"What are you doing here?" I asked icily as I came out from behind my husband and stood next to him, my hands on my hips. I was hoping that Rick wouldn't do anything to rash with me standing right there. 

Mr. Logan laughed, an awful sort of a sound that made chills ripple through my body. "Evelyn, dear, I think you know the answer to that." 

"Mrs. O'Connell," I corrected, narrowing my eyes at him. 

"Oh yes, sorry," he said, rolling his dark eyes. He took a few steps towards me as I backed up in turn until I was level with Rick.

"One more step towards her and your brain is going to be splattered all over this sand Logan."

I cringed, resisting the urge to tell Rick not to be so harsh- or graphic. He really had to learn to make better use of his words. 

"Now why don't you tell us what the hell you're doing here," Rick continued, gun still pointed. 

I stared Mr. Logan down as he stood in front of the three of us, assessing him while we waited for his answer. He was wearing a khaki suit much like Jonathan's, except for it fit him a little better. His hair was disheveled, desperately needing a comb, and his entire body was covered in sand (not unlike the rest of us.) Were it not for the evilness shining in his eyes, I would have said he made the perfect picture of an archeologist. However, the eye trait made me distrust whatever he said, made me doubt his sincerity. He was no archeologist. 

"You didn't think I was going to let you find The Treasure without me, did you?"

There it was. He didn't even care about proving the myth, as I did, as much as he cared about finding gold. He was just like the rest of the slimy, good for nothing "explorers" that I had come to know and hate in my life. The exception being the two men beside me, one who couldn't help himself and the other who happened to be just doing me a favor- in both cases. 

"What treasure?" I asked, trying to feign innocence, hoping he would be thrown off. 

"Oh c'mon Evelyn- Mrs. O'Connell, sorry- you know as well as I do."

I didn't say anything, simply folded my arms across my chest and stared at him.

"I saw the books! I saw all of your little writings strewn across your desk! It didn't take too much to figure out what you were up to. And you're very easy people to follow, all I had to do was watch your fire every night until I figured out where exactly you were going." 

Mr. Logan stopped talking long enough to take another couple of steps forwards, apparently ignoring Rick's threat earlier. My husband chose not to follow up on what he had said, which was a good and bad thing at the same time. 

"And so now," Mr. Logan continued, "when you come across the cache, I'll be there too."

"We don't have to let you, ya know," Rick pointed out, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. 

Mr. Logan pretended to look concerned, cocking his head to one side and pouting. "Ah, well, in that case, I suppose the rest of the world would like to know about…Hampunapra? How Miss Evelyn here almost wiped out all of humanity by reading a book, and how mummies _can_ come back to life, and about how you three now own what's left of the treasure?"

I felt my blood run cold as I glanced quickly at Jonathan and then at Rick, both of whom had skin as white as snow. Leaked information such as that would bring mass hysteria. It was the last thing any of us wanted. And I had no doubts that his man would indeed breach our secret if we weren't careful. 

"Does Abdulla know you are here?" I asked.

Mr. Logan scoffed at my question. "Of course not. I told him my dear old mum was dying and took off. Poor man believed me."

It was quiet again after that until Rick finally said, "Get the hell otta my site."

Mr. Logan threw up his hands, "All right, just remember what I told you." With a smirk and a little wave, he turned and retreated back to his camp. 

I watched his form leave, different emotions running through my fogged brain. I wanted to sit down and cry but also run after him and beat him, all at the same time. This was_ not _how things were supposed to be progressing. 

"Well shit," Rick cursed as he lowered his gun. 

I glanced at him. "Honey-"

"I don't want to hear it!" he bellowed before stalking off towards our own camp. 

To tired to be too angry with him, I simply sighed and turned to where Jonathan still stood. "You all right?" I asked. 

Jonathan, as if pulled out of a daze, shrugged lazily. "I can't say I'm surprised," he mumbled, stumbling toward me. "Our lives are never going to be calm, old mum. I'm beginning to see that."

Despite the situation, I chuckled. My brother was right. Softly, I reached over and squeezed his free hand. He rolled his eyes at an attempt to brush off my sign of affection and then nodded his head towards camp. "Go talk to Rick," he suggested. "I'll be over in a few minutes."

Nodding, I dropped Jonathan's hand and started across the sand to where my husband was. I found him pacing in front of small pile of wood that would eventually be our fire, bits of the afternoon sun catching in his hair and illuminating his pistol which rested in its holster. Agitated, he seemed to be a lot more concerned with Mr. Logan than I thought he would be. Then again, this was Richard O'Connell we were talking about. I should know better then to think this wouldn't upset him. 

"Rick?"

He stopped moving and turned toward me. I saw something in his eyes that made my heart skip a beat: fear. It was a rare occasion indeed that my husband was overcome by the emotion; I had only seen him experience it once or twice. This was no simply worry look, this was all out fear. 

"Darling? Are you all right?" 

He didn't respond with words, simply took two giant steps towards me and wrapped his big arms around my body, crushing me against his own with tremendous strength. I returned the embrace, holding on to him as tightly as I could. 

"Rick, it's going to be all right. We'll come up with something," I whispered softly.

"He would hurt you if he could Evy," Rick hoarsely whispered back. "I could see it in his eyes. He's jealous. He wants this damn treasure so bad that he would hurt you if he needed too. And I think letting the world know about Hampunapra is the least he would do to get to it. I just don't want anything to happen to you." 

I couldn't think of anything to say, only wished I could turn back time a half an hour to when we were lying in the sand, ready to drift off to sleep. It had been easier then, the future was bright and promising. Now it was complicated, dangerous even. Either path was ridden with thorns. So when I thought of nothing productive to say, I simply sighed and snuggled up to him. He continued to hold me for a long time, as if he was drawing strength from simply being with me. At last, he murmured something into my ear. But what he said opened another door entirely. 

"Jonathan told me…about your parents."

I pulled away and looked up at him. "He what?"

Rick looked a little worried, as if he had said something wrong. "You know…how your dad took you here…and about how you came down here when they died. And how you were really upset."

I was going to murder Jonathan, numerous times, in numerous forms. How dare he take something that was so personal and share it with Rick without even asking me! Not that I wouldn't have shared it with my husband, but I really did not want my brother telling the story. I bet he told him a strange version full of holes and over-done details as well. 

"He did what!" I exploded. 

Rick jumped away from me, holding up his hands. "Jesus! What is with you Evy?" 

"I just can't believe he did that! I mean, that was my personal experience."

"Is this the whole reason you've been acting like a bitch lately?"

"What?" My eyes narrowed as my hands flew to my hips. I stared at Rick through slanted eyelids, waiting for an explanation as to why he had just called me what he did. 

Rick sighed heavily. "You've been really…short…with everyone…lately," he stammered, folding his arms over his chest.  

"That is no reason to call me a…what you did!" I countered back. 

"Say it," Rick commanded, grinning.

God! He actually got off on stuff like this. "No, and grow up," I retorted, annoyed more then ever. "And no, my parents are not responsible for the majority of my emotional…turmoil. I've been here several times since them," I continued. 

Rick didn't say anything for a long couple of minutes, just stood there, his arms folded, starting at me. "Is it that time of the month again?" he finally asked.

My mouth dropped open and my eyes widened. "Richard Alexander O'Connell-"

"What the hell are you middle naming me for?"

"-how dare you say such things to me!"

Rick's eyes widened, almost to the width of my own. "You never seemed to care before!" he roared, so loudly in fact that I'm sure our little friends across the way heard. 

"Oooohhh!" I was tired of his insensitive comments, the name calling, not to mention his brainless disrespect for matters of the female body system. Shooting him an angry glance, I stalked passed him and into our tent, letting the flap close heatedly behind me. Everything seemed to make me mad and I attacked the neatly laid beds, simply because they were too much in order. When I was satisfied that the blankets and pillows had been thrown around enough, I flopped down in the middle of my mess and sulked. 

I'd fought more with Rick in the last week and a half then I had in our entire marriage. Granted, that period of time wasn't very long, but that's beside the point. I did begin to feel rather guilty after a bit, when I realized he was just trying to show some concern. And it really wasn't his fault that Jonathan did what he did. Nor that my parents died. And it wasn't his fault those stupid men were now on to us. And it wasn't his fault that my menstrual cycle was…

…a week and a half off.

My arms went slack to my sides and my heart reflexively sped up. This was certainly new. I hadn't even been thinking about when it was supposed to come about. Quickly I made a mental calendar of the last two months, counting off days of various sorts. The more and more I checked my days, the more and more excited I became. 

A baby. A little tiny human being, that was _ours._ A child that Rick and I had created. I'd thought about it before, imagined its little face and hands. I just hadn't expected it would happen so soon. Of course, there was no way I could be positive until later. I'd have to make sure the skipped period wasn't due to stress or something of the sort. But it certainly would explain the mood swings and nauseous mornings, among other things. 

Now I had something else on my mind aside from the mystery and Mr. Logan, who, by the way, still had me confused. I wondered why he wanted this treasure, and now. If he wanted to, he could have gone after Hamunaptra. It was all still an enigma. But it was being quickly pushed sideways the more I thought of a baby. Tenderly, I ran my hand over my midsection, peering down at it with wonder. It made me nervous and excited at the same time when I imagined a little tiny human being inside of me at that very moment. 

It was another half an hour before Rick finally peeked his head in through the flap of the tent. His face was etched with concern. "I'm sorry," he mumbled before he even came in all the way. 

My heart, melting at the sight of him, sped up with an unexplained adrenaline rush. "I'm sorry too," I said hurriedly. I waved him in with my hand, patting the ground beside me with the other. Rick broke into a grin and swiftly ducked in. (I say ducked quite literally. Our tent, though larger then a normal one, still required that he stoop if he were to stand. It also was not very wide, which meant no matter where we were, we were close. I don't think either of us particularly minded this little "problem" however.)

He sat down next to me and before I could even get another word in, pressed his mouth against mine, tenderly kissing me. Rick's way of making up. And I loved him for it.

Once I could talk again, I placed my hands squarely on his chest and then asked, "Honey, was the nineteenth of last month the night we went to that funny restaurant with the twirly things that hung from the ceiling?" 

That question caught him off guard. "I don't remember the date Evy," he said slowly, as if my inquiry was ridiculous. 

"That was the nineteen though, wasn't it? Because then the next day we opened the new exhibit at the museum, and that was the twentieth, right?"

Rick nodded slowly. "Yeah, the thing opened on the twentieth. I remember you talking about it. What does this have to do with anything?" 

My hands fluttered around in a mixture of excitement and nervousness. "But the dinner, that was the night when we came home and-" I blushed and was unable to say the rest of it outloud. Jonathan had been gone, we had drunken more then our share of wine, and well…

Rick broke into a smile, his face beaming with recognition. "Oh yeah," he mused. "Well I don't remember the date but…wow…we had pretty wild couple of hours, didn't we?" 

I leaned blissfully against him, resting my head against his forehead. All of the sudden I was getting this rush of feelings. I couldn't really explain it, it was simply an overwhelming wave of happiness. 

"Wanna tell me what's up?" he asked, still pressing for an answer to his question earlier. 

I laid a soft finger against his lips. "Not yet," I whispered. Not until I was sure. Not until I had figured it all out myself. "What's Jonathan up too?" I asked, moving closer to Rick. 

"He took one of your books back to his tent and was going to read for a bit before he starts dinner," my husband whispered back. His voice sounded funny. I pulled my head away from his own so that I could look into his eyes. They were dark, almost stormy. I knew that look. And he knew I knew it. It was the look that made me go weak, the one that made me want to do anything with or for him. 

"Rick?" My breathing, over the course of the last minute, had become labored. I was having a very hard time concentrating on anything else besides the man in front of me. All of the sudden, he was it, he was everything. 

"Yeah?"

"I need you," I whispered. And God help me, I did indeed. It was hard enough that it had been two weeks, a record, perhaps, in our personal book, but I wanted him to make me forget the last couple of fights.  

His mouth was upon mine in a mere couple of seconds. An intense driving passion, unlike any I had possibly felt before, came upon me and I acted with only this knowledge. I pushed him down, climbing on top of his solid body, pressing myself against him. Hands from both persons began to roam at their own accord, Rick's in particular. He knew where to touch me, and when. It drove me absolutely mad with zeal; I wanted more of it, more of him. Our mouths parted long enough to shed clothing as propriety fell to the ground with them in similar heaps. I no longer cared that we were in the middle of the desert, that a group of self claimed scholars was ruining our expedition. All that mattered with Rick. 

A great deal of time progressed before we finally concurred it would be wise to stop our activities, for now at least.  Jonathan would surely be coming about any time announcing dinner and without the protection of an actual door or locks, we would be painfully interrupted.  And so, I curled up in Rick's dirty shirt and snuggled next to his warm body while he stayed undressed, wrapping us both in one of the blankets. The mess I had made earlier with the covers was now even more, added to by various articles of clothing and shoes. 

I sighed happily, quiet proud of the disorder, which drew a squeeze around the shoulders by Rick. 

"You all right?"

Turning my head to face my husband, who was basking in the afternoon sun which shone through the tent walls, I smiled at him. "Of course," I whispered. "Do you even have to ask?"

Rick chuckled, but he didn't say anything more. Satisfied, I turned away from him, closed my eyes, and snuggled deeper against his form. I wanted nothing more then to fall asleep like this, pick up where our little nap had been cut off. 

"What are we gunna do about Mr. Logan and everyone?" 

Startled, I opened my eyes again and peered back at Rick. "I'm not sure," I confessed, idly drawing circles over my husband's body. "I don't want to think about it now."

Rick sighed and held me a little tighter. "We're going to have to deal with it sooner or later."

"I know," I whispered, rising a bit so I could see him better. "But now?" To emphasize my point, I planted slow, languid kisses on his chest. 

He made a noise that was somewhat of a cross between a groan and a dismissing grunt. I smirked at him, kissed his body one last time, and then settled back down where I had been. Rick's hand found the small of my back and he rested it there, the other attached to the arm that held me close. Gently, he kissed the top of my hair, letting his lips linger just a little longer then normal.

"Love you."

His faint comment brought a smile to my face. "I know," I whispered into the stillness.  

All was quiet after that, Rick silent for one reason or another, and I was lured to sleep by the peacefulness of it all. He or Jonathan would wake me up when it was time to eat, so why not take a rest? Mr. Logan and his band of followers were going to have to wait, for now at least. We would cross that bridge when we came upon it. 

**_Ahh, to be Evy at this point. Hehe. Love me and review!_**


	9. Chapter Nine

_Sorcha10- Nice to see you are back :)___ _Nakhti- Loved your reference to it as an "afternoon quickie" and so I consequently "borrowed" (as our favorite twosome would say) for this chapter. Update Cairo Nights chick. _

_Nefertirioc- Hehe…I love your reviews, they make me smile. _

_Everyone else- THANK YOU! I love you guys._

_I have now seen Runway Jury 3 times…I need to stop going…_

_Anyway, happy belated Turkey Day and all that jazz. Hope you enjoy!_

_*******_

Chapter Nine 

When you get married, little things start to become standard. Take sex for example. For last five months or so, I had been used to being able to do it with Evelyn at least, on most weeks, every other day. We couldn't get enough of each other and the constant lovemaking got to be routine. Not that I didn't enjoy it. Lets just put it this way: didn't miss how things were before hand, not one bit. But this little trip through the desert, not to mention the stress leading up to the whole deal, had left a bit of a void in that part of our relationship. It began to wear down on me; sometimes I wanted her so bad I couldn't stand it. So when Evelyn suggested, and not to subtly either, that we have an afternoon quickie, I wasn't about to say no. 

Ah, but the "quickie" was not as short lived as you would think. Sure, we took a little break for dinner and to discuss some of the next day's proceedings with Jonathan, but by eight we were back at it. Neither Evelyn nor I seemed to really care, or notice even, that Mr. Logan could pop in, or worse Jonathan. It was nice to just forget about all that crap and be with each other for a time. We simply needed some time alone. And it worked, because afterward I felt calmer and Mr. Logan didn't seem to piss me off as much as he had been. 

Its things like that that I'm talking about, the simple things that you miss once they become absent. Like when Evelyn stopped wearing her little blouses and skirts all time about a month after we were married. For weeks that's all I had seen her in. And when she stared wearing reveling, sexy clothes once in a while, it was a big shock to me. For years my life had been chaotic, an intense tornado of events. But since marring Evelyn, I begun to like routine: I liked my coffee every morning, I liked how Evelyn folded my shirts a certain way, how both of us _had_ to be on our respective sides of the beds, and how she was always there when I woke up. Her face was usually the first thing I saw in the morning, her body was the first physical thing mine came into contact with, other then the obvious sheets or other bed things. 

So the next morning, when I rolled over and found no one to take in my arms, I sat up quickly, alarmed, heart racing. I was scared out of my mind… until I heard her happy giggle drift through the tent walls followed by Jonathan's banter. I groaned softy, dreading getting up, wishing my wife would come back. But I reached over, pulled my pants off of my duffle bag, where they had landed during some action of the previous night, and stood up, pulling them on and zipping them up. The damn tent was short, so I had to hunch over while I looked around for my shirt from last night, which was nowhere to be found. Before I even thought about just grabbing another one, I flung open the tent flap and marched outside. That was my favorite shirt, if we lost if I was going to be very pissed. 

Evelyn and Jonathan were gathered around the campfire. I noticed he had a plate in front of him, she, on the other hand, did not. If she didn't watch it she was going to get sick again. And that was the last thing I wanted. What I also noticed, though, was that my shirt was out here- on Evy. It was way to big for her, but she'd put it on and buttoned it up, letting it fall, almost down to her knees. She'd put on a pair of work pants she'd bought just for the damn trip. I had to admit, she looked a little sexy, especially the way she turned her head quickly when she noticed I was approaching her.

"Good morning," she chirped happily. 

I grinned, unable to be mad at her, and sauntered over. "Morning sweetheart," I greeted, leaning down and kissing her on the top of the head. I straightened up and then nodded toward my brother-in-law, "Jonathan." 

Jonathan nodded back, his mouth otherwise occupied with whatever he was eating. It looked like a cross between eggs and oatmeal, so I didn't ask. No wonder Evy wasn't eating. I sat down next to her on the sand and playfully tugged at the shirt collar.

"You're wearing my shirt," I whispered, wondering if maybe the desert was getting to her senses. 

"I know," she said, grinning at me. "It looks better on me then it does you." She giggled at her own comment, playfully leaning against me. Yep, I think a good nights sex and sleep was all we really needed. God I missed her being like this.

"I think it looks better off both of us," I whispered, leaning close to her so that Jonathan couldn't hear. Evelyn's eyes lit up and she raised her eyebrows. 

"Hmm, that's true," she whispered back. Breaking into another grin she added, "Actually, I didn't want to wake you by looking through my bags." 

"I wouldn't have minded too much," I confessed, leaning down to kiss her sweetly. "I would have made you stay in bed."

Evelyn's grin widened at my suggestion and she nodded slowly. Our eyes remained locked for a good while as we both privately reminisced about last night. I missed it already.

"For goodness sake!" Jonathan's very loud, annoying voice broke through our private moment and I tore my gaze away from her to frown at him. "Can you spare me the lovey stuff, thank you very much? If you want to do it on your own time, fine by me, but we've got business here." 

"Actually," Evy said, pushing my hands off of her thighs, "Jonathan is right. We need to get started as soon as possible today."

I scowled and poked the fire with a stick I found lying next to my feet. _Actually_, I wanted to say to her, we could still go back to bed if we wanted to. 

"What are we going to do about what-his-arse," Jonathan asked, finishing off the rest of whatever he was eating. 

Evelyn looked at me and gave me a sad smile. We had tried to talk about it last night, but kept getting distracted by one thing or another.  I sighed loudly and shrugged my shoulders. 

"Go with it," I suggested.

"Of course not!" Evelyn interjected, standing up in that defiant way she had. Uh oh, here we go; I could practically hear the lecture she was going to deliver in about two seconds. You know, for as much as I love her, she can really get on my nerves sometimes. "Now, c'mon you two, we've been through a lot worse then this. We can surely thing of something. I mean, he's just one man. What could he possibly do?"

"Hurt you," I answered.

"Rat on us," Jonathan added, throwing his plate in the sand where it landed with a thump and a cloud of dust. 

Evy glared at both of us for a minute and then suddenly got very pale, her frown turning to a surprised nothing. Alarmed, I jumped up and put my hand on the small of her back. 

"I'll be right back," she said weakly, and then without so much as another word, she ran off. I watched her go, confused out of my mind. 

"What's with her?" Jonathan asked. 

Slowly, I turned and started at him for a long minute. Honestly, I had no clue and it was really starting to piss me off. She'd been acting really strange the last couple of days, last night especially. What had all that business about the date been about anyway? Something was definitely up. 

"I'm not sure," I answered my brother-in-law after a minute. 

Jonathan shrugged, standing up and brushing the sand off of his pants. "You know," he said musingly, coming over to where I stood, "we could just ignore Mr. Logan and not tell him what's going on."

Again, I stared at him for a minute or two. Duh. "Don't you think he would run back to Cairo and make Hamunaptra headlines?" 

"Maybe, but maybe not."

I shook my head, turned away from him, and scanned the area for my wife. I couldn't see her anywhere and I was getting worried. With the way she had been acting, and especially with Mr. Logan around, I didn't think it was to safe for her to be running off by herself. I was about to go look for her when Jonathon spoke again.

"You could just threaten him." 

This made me stop mid-thought and I turned back toward Jonathan. He was standing there, one hand shielding his eyes from the sun, the other hanging loosely at his side. What he said had actually, strangely, made some sense. I could just march right over there right now and tell him a thing or two. Without Evelyn to get on my case about language or something stupid like that, it could easily be done. Never mind the fact that I still didn't have a shirt on, the idea actually might work. 

"Ya know," I mused, "I might just do that."

Jonathan looked sickeningly proud of himself as he started grinning at me. He pulled out his own pistol from his holster and handed it to me, the silver barrel catching the morning sun as I took it carefully.  I checked it out for a minute, spun it around a few times, and then with a nod to my brother in law, started off in the direction of Mr. Logan. The closer I got, the more pissed I felt. This guy had no right at all to do this to us. 

I must have caused a big scene as I came stomping in with a gun, no shirt, rumpled pants and hair. But I found Mr. Logan quickly and marched right over to where he stood. When I was standing over him, I grabbed his collar and forced him up against a nearby wall, shoving the pistol warningly into his side. 

"You get near my wife, your ass is going to be hung, ya got that Logan? And I don't want to hear a word about Hamunaptra or else I'll hunt you down and beat your ass into the ground. Just pack up your God damn shit and get the hell otta here!" 

The poor little man (and I do mean little, I was at least ten inches taller then he was…geez…Evy was taller then he was…even without her shoes) trembled under my hold. "Don't hurt me O'Connell," he whimpered.

Jesus, what a fruitcake. This guy wasn't as threatening as he came across. What the hell had I been so worried about?

"I'm not gunna hurt you, damn it," I told him harshly, just for effect. 

Oh, but in the next second I wanted to. His scared little grin slowly slid into a malicious one. "Oh, you wouldn't do that…would you?" 

Tightening my hold on him, I dug my fingernails into his shoulder and pushed the gun deeper into his side. "Give me one reason not too," I said evenly, my voice low.

Patting me good-naturedly on the shoulder, Logan gave me a smug smile.  "You hurt me…and one of those men over there," he pointed towards his little band of followers "will get you in return. Simple as that, my boy."

"You think I can't handle a man in a dress?" I asked, scoffing at his comment by rolling my eyes. 

"You could O'Connell, I don't doubt that. Your wife, on the other hand…"

My loosing grip once again tightened around his shoulder. Pushing the gun even further into his side, I narrowed my eyes.  An intense rage was welling up inside my body. Treating me was one thing, but no one, and I mean no one was going to hurt Evelyn. I didn't care if it was physical, psychological…whatever. If someone wronged her, they were going to answer to me. The last thing I wanted to see was her harmed.

"Leave Evelyn out of this," I growled. I had no doubts that if he wanted to, he could more or less sic one of his workers on her. And while I doubted that they would kill her, I didn't rule out the possibility. Most likely they would break her leg or something. 

"Ah…that I can't do O'Connell," Logan chocked out and I realized I had been pressing my thumb closer and closer to his windpipe. Heh. Whoops. I couldn't _kill_ him; I couldn't do that to Evy. She'd be mortified. Plus, then someone would come after her. 

"You see," he continued when he could breathe regularly again, "your wife not only stole the position I was next in line to obtain, she also is well on her way to stumbling across one of the next biggest archeological discoveries, thus promoting her stature further.  I was prepared to let the fact that the three of you got Hamunaptra slide. But this? Well, that's out of the question." 

Damn it. The only thing I could think of doing was shooting him and since I couldn't do that, I just stood there. What the hell was I going to do? It was a no win situation, if I hurt him, he would hurt Evelyn. And if I let it slide and let him stay, he would be there. His slimy little presence would be all over us like flies on a carcass. 

Hmmm…what was that thing Evy was always talking about? A compromise? Yeah, that was it. That might work. Now all I had to do was thing of one that was reasonable enough. 

"Look," I began, loosing my hold a tiny bit, enough to where he could stand on the heels of his feet again, "what's about we make an arrangement?" 

"Go on," Logan responded. 

"You leave Evelyn alone- and I mean alone god damn it. If one hair on her head is so much as touched I'll have your ass. I'd don't want you talking to her, being near her, so much as looking at her from a distance? You got that? You do that and…" I took a deep breath, racking my brain for ideas. 

"…I'll make sure you're there when- if, if we find anything." My voice lowered and I looked at the ground. This sucked. When I glanced back at Logan, he had a stupid grin painted on his face. 

"And I'll get equal recognition?" 

"_If_ there is something, then we'll talk."

Mr. Logan broke out into a grin as he chuckled to himself. "You're not half bad O'Connell," he said as I pulled my gun away from his side. 

"Wish I could say the same."

A look of hurt crossed his face momentarily, but then he stuck out his hand. "It's a deal," he pronounced.

Reluctantly, I shook his hand and then, giving him a hard slap on the back for a reminder, took off in the direction of our camp. I didn't look back; he wasn't worth anymore of my time. But how was I going to explain this one to my wife? She would be mad as hell if I told her I'd struck a bargain with Logan, much less agreed to let him join in our finding.  And knowing her, she wouldn't see the logic behind it, or what little logic there was behind it. 

By the time I arrived back, I had more or less decided not to mention it to Evelyn unless she asked or when Logan made himself known, whichever happened first. Growling to myself, I stalked back into camp and glanced around. Jonathan was making a racket in his tent, no doubt trying to change, but Evelyn still wasn't around. This worried me. I knew she could take care of herself, but I was still anxious anyway. I loved that girl.

Just when I was about to go looking for her, I heard a shout that made my blood turn to ice.

"Rick!"

I took off in a mad dash in the direction of her voice, which was distinctively coming from my north right. After only a few moments, I came across her with my gun poised and ready to take on whatever was there. Unless, of course, what she was yelling about was some immortal mummy thing again.

I found her standing next to a pillar, jumping around excitedly. A quick glance around told me that we were alone, that it was just something related to this stupid myth, and I lowered the gun. 

"Don't scare me like that," I mumbled gruffly.

Evelyn ignored my comment, but turning toward me she grinned. "Look!" she exclaimed, running her hands over the limestone. "It's the pillar I was reading about in that book!"

Peering over her shoulder, I looked to where she was pointing. 

"There, it's the same people on my ring. Ohh, and Tuya's cartouche!" her voice squeaked in excitement. She started running her hands over the hieroglyphics around the pictures, reading them out loud to me in plain English.

"If you seek it, there is a place…"

"That's all it says?" I asked, my brow furrowing in confusion. 

Nodding, Evelyn pulled her hands away, resting them on her hips. Her eyes glazed over as she began to get that look she got whenever she was thinking really hard. Her eyes narrowed, her mouth twisted into a little grimace, and she sighed a lot. Just when I was about to ask her what was up, she gasped and threw her hands up in excitement.

"I've got it!" 

Raising my eyebrows expectantly, I looked at her. 

"It's a sort of a trail…and this is where it begins. We just have to follow the little pictures like the ones on my ring and then put all the little phrases together."

"It can't be that easy." Honestly it couldn't. Other people would have figured that out by now. 

Evelyn, who shrugged off my suggestion, turned her attention back to the pillar. "We just have to figure out where to look next." 

I sighed loudly. "You must be feeling better," I mumbled, plumping down onto the ground. I threw the gun out in front of me and, after rubbing my eyes, stretched back and propped myself up with my hands and arms. 

"Mmm hmmm," was all she responded with. 

Yeah, she really had a one-track mind. There was going to be no talking unless it involved Egypt for the next ten minutes or so, when something else would captivate her mind or she would move on by herself. I yawned loudly, most of my energy still zapped, and closed my eyes. Evelyn started mumbling incoherently to herself and I began to tune it out. That it, until I heard something that again got me restless. My eyes flew open and I stared at her for a long moment before repeating what I thought I had heard her say.  

"The, uh, Ramesseum?" Ugh, I know what that meant. I'd paid attention to _some_ of what she'd said the past week. 

She nodded slowly. 

"As in…"

"Across the Nile," Evelyn said, sighing for the both of us. 

Well damn. 

**********

_Puleezzee review and let me know what you think! It makes me want to update when I know there is a demand_…


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